Cibrarp  of  ‘the  'theological  ^eminarjp 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of  the 
Rev,  John  B.  Wie&inger 

BT  701  . V3  1907 

Vance,  James  I.  1862-1939. 

The  eternal  in  man 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


https://archive.org/details/eternalinrnan00vanc_0 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


I — “  - - 

I 

By  James  I.  Vance,  D.D. 

Tendency:  The  Effect  of  Trend  and 
Drift  in  the  Development  of  Life. 
Net  $1.25. 

A  series  of  discussions  of  formative  influ¬ 
ences  in  character  construction,  from  a  prac¬ 
tical  and  sympathetic  standpoint. 

The  Eternal  in  Man.  12mo,  Cloth, 
net  50c. 

“An  appeal  to  the  dignity  of  manhood,  a 
call  for  the  awakening  of  the  highest  in 
humanity.” — Newark  Evening  News. 

The  Young  Man  Four-square.  In 
Business,  Society,  Politics,  and  Re¬ 
ligion.  yth  Edition.  12mo,  Cloth,  35c. 

A  Young  Man' s  Make-up.  gd  Edi¬ 
tion.  12mo,  Cloth,  net  75c. 

A  study  of  the  things  that  make  or  unmake 
a  young  man. 

The  Rise  of  a  Soul.  A  stimulus  to 
personal  progress  and  development. 

12mo,  Cloth,  net  50c. 

Royal  Manhood .  gth  Edition.  12mo, 
Cloth,  $1.25. 

“An  inspiring  book,  a  strong,  forcible,  elo¬ 
quent  presentation  of  the  characteristics  of 
true  manhood.”—  The  Living  Church. 

The  College  of  Apostles.  2d  Edition. 
12mo,  Cloth,  75c. 

“A  character  study  of  the  Apostles,  includ¬ 
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132 


The  Eternal 


By 

JAMES  I.  vANCE,  D.  D. 


Author  of  <(  The  Rise  of  a  Soul  f 
“  Royal  Manhood f  etc . 


“  He  hath  set  eternity  in  their  heart.” 

The  Wise  Man. 


New  York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming  H.  Revell  Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1907,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago :  125  No.  Wabash  Avenue 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


CONTENTS 


I. 

The  Eternal  in  Man 

•  • 

7 

II. 

Human  Nature’s  Trailing 
Cloud  of  Glory 

21 

III. 

The  Without  and  Within  of 
Life  .  .  .  .  '  . 

31 

IV. 

A  Citizen  of  Two  Worlds 

41 

V. 

Race-Sin 

•  • 

52 

VI. 

The  Atrophy  of  a  Soul 

•  • 

66 

VII. 

A  God  in  Ruins  . 

•  • 

74 

VIII. 

A  New  Creature 

•  i 

85 

IX. 

The  Incarnation 

•  • 

100 

X. 

Glory  and  Suffering 

•  • 

109 

XI. 

The  Storm- Wind 

•  • 

118 

XII. 

The  Call  of  the  Good 

•  » 

131 

XIII. 

Faith  .... 

•  • 

142 

XIV. 

The  Victory  of  Faith 

9  9 

158 

XV. 

Faith  and  the  Infinite 

•  • 

170 

XVI. 

The  Fatherhood  of  God 

•  • 

182 

XVII. 

At  the  Gates  of  the  Invisible 

195 

XVIII. 

Man  Has  Forever 

•  • 

205 

XIX. 

The  Mist -Veiled  Harbour 

216 

XX. 

Recognition  Beyond  the  Veil 

227 

5 


The  Eternal  in  Man 


i 

THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 

“  Man  is  made  for  the  infinite.” 

— Pascal. 

li  All  men’s  souls  are  immortal,  but  the  souls  of  the  right¬ 
eous  are  immortal  and  divine.” — Socrates. 

11  He  who,  while  here,  lives  the  eternal  life 
Is  through  eternity  set  free  from  strife.  ’  ’ 

— JaJcob  Bohme. 

One  summer  night  around  a  camp-fire  in  the 
mountains,  after  two  hours  of  merry  jest  and 
song,  our  old  negro  cook  came  out  of  his  tent  and 
standing  where  the  lights  and  shadows  met, 
begged  permission  to  ask  a  question.  We  were 
a  company  of  preachers  holding  a  Bible  confer¬ 
ence  with  the  mountaineers.  Our  cook  in  his 
early  youth  had  been  a  slave  in  Virginia  and 
was  still  proud  of  the  traditions  of  his  family. 
Six  feet  in  height,  straight  as  an  arrow,  with 
swarthy  chiselled  features  and  the  air  of  a  Ches¬ 
terfield,  the  old  negro  made  a  picture  as  he  stood 
there  in  the  flickering  light  of  the  camp-fire,  his 
big  form  and  dark  features  silhouetted  against 
the  darker  night. 

We  told  him  to  ask  on. 

7 


8 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


As  he  began  to  speak  in  low,  tense,  earnest 
tones,  another  atmosphere  fell  around  the  camp. 
Instead  of  merriment  and  laughter,  we  were  face 
to  face  with  a  soul  groping  for  light  and  seeking 
for  signs  of  kinship  with  God. 

The  old  negro  had  been  pondering  the  opening 
chapters  of  Genesis  and  said  that  he  had  noticed 
a  difference  between  the  way  God  made  the  world 
and  the  way  He  made  man.  In  making  the 
world  God  used  His  power  j  in  making  man  God 
used  Himself,  His  life,  His  breath ;  and  the  old 
man7  s  anxiety  was  to  know  if  he  was  right  in  the 
conclusion  that  God,  in  the  very  act  of  creation 
had  made  him  akin  to  the  Deity.  He  was  voic¬ 
ing  not  only  the  cry  of  his  own  life  and  of  his 
oppressed  and  neglected  people  for  some  bond 
that  would  tie  them  to  an  eternal  hope  ;  but  the 
cry  of  the  race  for  God.  Is  there  within  man’s 
soul  any  sign  of  kinship  with  divinity  f  Is  there 
any  prophet  with  a  tongue  of  immortality  ? 

The  human  heart  is  an  answer  to  the  old 
negro’s  question  asked  that  night  around  the 
mountain  camp-fire.  Its  reply  to  the  soul’s 
deepest  inquiry  is  a  great  affirmation.  It  is  a 
declaration  of  the  eternal  in  man.  It  is  a  proc¬ 
lamation  of  kinship  between  the  divine  and  hu¬ 
man.  It  is  a  record  of  the  tracery  infinite  love 
left  upon  its  crowning  work.  Whatever  his 
clime  or  complexion  man’s  heart  carries  him 
back  to  the  opening  chapters  of  Genesis  and  to 
the  story  of  Creation.  It  calls  up  the  hour  when 
God  said  :  ‘ L  Let  us  make  man  in  our  image,  after 


THE  ETEBNAL  IN  MAN 


9 


our  likeness  ’ ’  ;  and  having  made  him  God 
touched  him,  not  with  the  finger  of  His  power, 
but  with  the  breath  of  His  life.  He  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life,  and  man  be¬ 
came  a  living  soul.  From  that  hour  God  and 
man  are  of  a  common  life. 

Man  is  himself  the  high  and  commanding- 
proof  of  his  own  immortality.  He  is  the  con¬ 
spicuous  evidence  of  an  endless  existence  and  a 
permanent  world.  He  has  the  certificate  of 
eternity  in  himself. 

As  the  actual  man  surveys  himself  these  seem 
wild  statements.  Eternity  is  an  infinite  term 
and  the  human  heart  is  a  limited  condition. 
How  can  the  finite  hold  the  infinite  ?  How  can 
man’s  small  nature  hold  eternity  ?  How  can  his 
narrow  sympathies  contain  eternal  passions  ? 
How  can  his  fickle  will  transmit  eternal  pur¬ 
poses  ?  The  ocean  is  too  big  for  so  tiny  a  cup  ; 
the  vistas  too  vast  for  sight  so  short  and  dim. 
How  can  even  Omnipotence  manage  to  pack 
eternity  within  the  small  compass  of  a  human 
heart  ?  It  seems  impossible. 

If  not  impossible,  it  is  certainly  incongruous. 
What  is  eternity  f  It  is  the  supernatural,  it  is 
the  world  beyond  the  sky-line,  it  is  life  without 
restrictions,  it  is  the  permanent  good,  it  is  the 
realm  where  virtue  is  never  in  decay  and  ex¬ 
perience  is  always  happiness,  it  is  life  with  an 
infinite  accent,  it  is  holiness,  it  is  God. 

What  is  man’s  heart,  with  all  its  darkness  and 
treachery,  with  its  sophistries  and  hypocrisies, 


10 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


with  its  lusts  and  blasphemies,  with  its  denials  of 
God  and  its  repudiations  of  duty,  that  it  should 
be  made  the  receptacle  for  the  jewel  of  eternity  1 

Life  Seems  to  Discredit  the  Heart’s  Dec¬ 
laration 

Man  lives  as  if  the  eternal  world  were  doubt¬ 
ful.  There  is  little  trace  of  an  eternal  accent  in 
common  life.  He  toils  as  if  this  life  were  all, 
making  scant  provisions  for  the  future,  preoc¬ 
cupied  with  temporal  affairs,  and  oblivious  of  ex¬ 
istence  beyond  the  sky-line.  He  is  so  busy  try¬ 
ing  to  make  money  that  the  soul  is  forgotten. 

He  neglects  the  eternal.  He  keeps  it  on  a 
starvation  diet.  He  feeds  physical  appetites  and 
makes  provision  to  satisfy  mental  and  social  ap¬ 
petencies,  but  says  to  the  eternal:  “Be  still, 
time  enough  to  attend  to  you  after  death.”  He 
values  business  more  than  he  values  God.  God 
can  wait.  Eternity  is  side-tracked  and  time  is 
given  the  right  of  way. 

He  abuses  the  eternal.  He  drags  down  divine 
possibilities  into  the  mud  and  mire  of  unclean 
living.  He  harnesses  godlike  powers  to  selfish 
and  ignoble  tasks,  and  prostitutes  to  the  uses  of 
sin,  faculties  given  for  the  employments  of 
eternity.  He  chains  the  soul  to  lusts  and  makes 
the  spirit  a  slave  to  the  flesh.  Sometimes  he  goes 
so  far  as  to  deny  outright  the  existence  of  the 
eternal  in  man.  He  becomes  sufficiently  atheistic 
to  recognize  nothing  but  the  animal,  and  to  treat 


THE  ETEBNAL  IN  MAN 


11 


liimself  as  a  clod  suffering  from  freaks  of  evolu¬ 
tion. 

Nevertheless  in  the  face  of  all  this  the  infinite 
tracery  survives.  Despite  all  neglect,  abuse  and 
denial,  the  eternal  in  man  persists.  No  doubt 
can  kill  it  and  no  neglect  efface  it.  It  is  man’s 
crown,  the  sign  of  his  destiny,  the  gospel  of  his 
salvation.  There  is  none  so  sinful,  so  lost  to 
goodness  as  wholly  to  exile  himself  from  the 
possibilities  of  a  better  and  a  divine  life. 

Sometimes  one  comes  upon  the  ruins  of  a  great 
house.  Through  the  effects  of  time  or  because  of 
some  catastrophe,  what  was  once  imposing  has 
gone  to  decay.  Yet  amid  the  ruins  one  may  find 
signs  of  the  former  splendour  and  stately  measures 
of  the  house.  A  prostrate  column,  a  fallen 
chapiter,  a  broken  frieze  or  architrave,  a  piece 
of  standing  wall  announces  what  the  great  house 
was  in  its  prime.  Man  is  a  spiritual  ruin,  but 
amid  the  ruins  the  signs  survive  of  what  God 
meant  man  to  be  when  He  thought  of  him  first, 
and  what  he  is  yet  to  be  by  redeeming  grace. 

The  Signs  of  the  Eternal  in  Man 

There  are  signs  of  the  eternal  in  man.  Let  at 
least  three  such  surviving  traces  of  the  divine 
image  in  the  human  heart  be  noticed.  They 
are  the  need,  the  capacity,  and  the  desire  for  the 
eternal. 

Man  needs  more  than  seventy  years  to  com¬ 
plete  himself.  He  needs  eternity.  He  does  not 
get  his  growth  in  time.  He  is  just  learning  how 


12 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


to  live.  He  acquires  a  few  formulas  and  gathers 
a  little  dexterity.  He  finds  a  few  tools  and  dis¬ 
covers  his  ignorance.  He  gets  enough  experience 
to  see  that  there  are  some  things  to  seek  and 
others  to  shun.  But  man  is  more  than  a  century 
plant.  His  powers  do  not  come  to  perfection  in 
time.  Just  when  he  is  about  ready  to  begin  to 
live,  he  must  die. 

There  is  an  incompleteness  about  everything 
here.  Every  act  and  impulse  has  an  expectant 
expression.  All  look  forward  to  something. 

We  are  trying  to  get  our  harp  in  tune,  and  just 
when  we  are  ready  to  play  we  must  lay  the  in¬ 
strument  aside. 

Man  needs  the  eternal  accent.  The  time-em- 
pliasis  makes  very  little  impression.  He  must 
have  his  duties  charged  home  by  a  divine  imper¬ 
ative.  His  sense  of  responsibility  must  be  reen¬ 
forced  by  eternal  obligations.  If  he  is  to  live 
right,  he  must  come  under  the  spell  of  the  un¬ 
seen,  hear  the  voice  of  God,  and  feel  the  pressure 
of  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come. 

Man  has  eternal  capacities. 

The  ability  to  reason  is  an  eternal  capacity. 
Intelligence  is  a  footprint  of  the  Deity  in  the 
soul  of  man.  Will-power  and  personality  are 
signs  God  leaves  behind  as  He  walks  through 
man’s  nature.  Memory,  that  weird  faculty  of 
the  mind,  by  which  we  bring  the  past  into  the 
present  and  resurrect  that  which  was  dead  into  a 
conscious  and  living  experience  ;  imagination, 
that  marvellous  faculty  of  the  mind  by  which  we 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


13 


bring  the  future  into  the  present  and  create  it 
into  a  conscious  and  actual  experience,  are  both 
signs  of  kinship  with  the  divine. 

The  moral  nature  is  an  eternal  capacity.  In¬ 
ferior  animals  have  no  sense  of  guilt  and  no  ex¬ 
perience  of  holiness.  The  ability  to  sin,  the 
possibility  of  salvation,  the  aspiration  for  a 
moral  life,  remorse,  repentance,  holiness  are  all 
traceries  of  the  infinite. 

The  very  thought  of  God  is  the  sign  of  an 
eternal  capacity,  even  when  that  thought  takes 
the  form  of  a  doubt  or  a  denial.  How  can  man 
have  the  thought  of  God,  unless  it  be  possible 
for  man  to  experience  God  ? 

Worship  is  the  attitude  of  a  being  with  eternal 
capacities.  It  is  the  craving  of  a  nature  whose 
hunger  God  alone  can  appease.  Prayer,  sacri¬ 
fice,  faith,  are  all  eternal  appetites.  All  churches 
and  altars  and  creeds  and  rituals  are  saying : 
“  Man  is  eternal. ” 

Aspiration  is  an  eternal  voice  in  man’s  soul. 
He  is  never  quite  satisfied.  The  heart  whispers, 
“  It  is  better  farther  on  ;  let  us  push  forward.” 
To  reach  a  goal  is  to  look  beyond  it.  It  is  to 
see  a  higher  light  whose  glow  and  promise  will 
not  let  us  rest.  Well  for  us  that  it  is  so.  The 
cheap  content  sometimes  preached  is  worse  than 
impossible  ;  it  is  undesirable.  The  only  con¬ 
tentment  for  a  creature  with  an  eternal  appetite 
is  action  and  progress. 

Even  the  sense  of  failure,  the  feeling  of  humili¬ 
ation,  the  tragedy  of  despair  are  marks  of  an 


14 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


eternal  kinship.  Why  should  one  be  so  con¬ 
cerned  for  failures,  when  death  with  its  extinc¬ 
tion  of  being  becomes  the  great  failure  ?  If  there 
be  nothing  but  the  time  tribunal  for  character 
and  conduct,  why  be  apprehensive  ?  The  feeling 
of  discouragement  is  the  sigh  of  a  soul  before  an 
infinite  standard.  One’s  sense  of  failure  is  his 
conviction  that  he  is  eternal  and  that  the  eternal 
must  not  surrender  to  time. 

Over  human  failures,  hope  sings.  This  brief 
transit  across  the  dial  plate  of  time  is  not  all. 
The  future  remains.  In  the  realm  beyond  the 
sky-line,  we  shall  adventure  life  again  ;  and  there, 
under  kindlier  conditions,  disciplined  by  past 
struggles  and  taught  by  former  failures,  the 
eternal  in  man  shall  come  to  its  own. 

There  is  an  eternal  need,  an  eternal  capacity, 
an  eternal  desire  in  every  human  life.  These  are 
some  of  the  proofs,  found  amid  the  ruins,  of  the 
kinship  of  the  human  with  the  divine. 

The  Human  Heart  is  an  Eternal  House 

Man  may  experience  eternity  in  time.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  die  to  become  immortal.  It  is 
possible  here  in  time  to  feel  the  pulses  of  eternity 
surging  in  the  blood,  the  passions  of  eternity  tug¬ 
ging  at  the  heart,  and  the  hopes  of  eternity 
charging  each  deed  with  high  importance. 

The  soul  that  dares,  may  snap  its  fetters,  break 
away  from  the  restrictions  which  would  tie  it 
down,  look  bejmnd  the  low  horizon,  claim,  assert 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


15 


and  enjoy  its  eternal  prerogatives,  and  be  a  citi¬ 
zen  of  God’s  great  out-of-doors. 

Man  is  like  a  bird  in  a  cage  until  he  lives  for 
eternity.  He  is  like  a  prisoner  in  a  cell  until  he 
gives  the  eternal  within  him  expression.  Just  as 
the  ripples  of  the  meadow-brook  reproduce  the 
swell  of  the  ocean  tides  towards  which  the  brook 
flows  ;  and  just  as  the  music  of  the  rivulet  in  its 
eddies  echoes  the  lap  of  the  mighty  sea  on  the 
beach  where  some  day  the  rivulet  will  measure 
its  waters  ;  so  the  voices  within  us  are  the  voices 
of  the  larger  life  for  which  we  are  destined  and 
towards  which  we  are  going. 

The  gospel  is  a  plea  for  the  recognition  of  the 
eternal  in  man.  It  is  God  coming  to  occupy  the 
place  He  made  for  Himself  in  the  soul,  when 
man  was  created.  It  is  a  summons  to  the  tem¬ 
poral  to  obey  the  eternal. 

Christ  came  to  open  blind  eyes,  not  that  they 
might  see  the  sordid  sights  of  sin,  but  that  they 
might  see,  amid  the  sordid  sights  of  sin,  the  glory 
of  the  eternal  city.  Christ  came  to  unstop  deaf 
ears,  not  that  they  might  hear  the  noises  of  the 
streets,  but  that  they  might  hear,  amid  the  noises 
of  the  streets,  celestial  symphonies  and  melodies 
and  the  music  of  invisible  harpers  harping  on 
their  harps.  Christ  came  to  make  the  lame  walk, 
not  in  the  slow  drudgeries  of  the  monotonous 
tread-mill,  but  amid  the  slow  drudgeries  of  the 
monotonous  tread-mill,  to  move  along  the  heights 
of  glory  and  across  the  plains  of  peace. 

Christ  came  to  recover  the  lost  eternal  accent 


16 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


in  human  life.  He  said,  4  i  I  came  that  they  might 
have  life  and  that  they  might  have  it  more 
abundantly. ’ 7  “I  give  unto  them  eternal  life 
and  they  shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any 
pluck  them  out  of  My  hand.’7  Christ  came  to 
furnish  the  house  according  to  the  original  plans. 
Grace  wakes  the  eternal  within  us  into  living 
power  and  expression,  until  we  hold  eternal  con¬ 
victions,  are  stirred  by  eternal  motives,  and  seek 
eternal  aims. 

When  the  Eternal  Rules 

Man  is  redeemed  when  the  eternal  rules  him. 
Then  his  career  in  time  becomes  but  a  pulse  beat 
of  his  everlasting  existence.  Thus  both  worlds 
get  right. 

Of  course  the  future  world  gets  right.  It 
ceases  to  be  a  fear  and  becomes  a  hope.  One 
whose  heart  is  already  singing  an  eternal  measure 
has  nothing  to  fear  from  the  night.  The  morning 
cometh  !  Heath  is  a  kind  angel  that  comes  to  re¬ 
lease  us  from  burdens  which  have  grown  too 
heavy  longer  to  be  borne ;  and  to  introduce  us, 
when  we  are  ready,  to  the  activities  and  oppor¬ 
tunities  of  a  larger  life.  Somewhere  the  brook 
and  the  sea  meet  and  mingle  their  waters  ;  some¬ 
where  the  sun  and  the  sunbeam  touch.  We  call 
it  11  death.”  A  better  name  is  “home.”  The 
eternity  whose  song  is  already  filling  the  heart 
with  music  cannot  cause  distress.  Death  is  a 
home-call. 

The  present  world  gets  right  also.  The  author 


THE  ETEKNAL  IN  MAN 


17 


of  Ecclesiastes  says  :  ‘ 1  He  hath  made  everything 
beautiful  in  His  time.  He  hath  set  eternity  in 
their  heart.”  1  The  inference  is  that  God  has 
made  the  world  beautiful  for  those  in  whose 
hearts  He  has  set  eternity.  The  secret  of  a  beau¬ 
tiful  without  is  an  eternal  within.  When  eternity 
rules,  this  world  ceases  to  be  discord,  and  every¬ 
thing  becomes  beautiful  in  its  time. 

We  get  the  right  perspective.  The  world  some¬ 
times  seems  ugly  because  seen  in  the  wrong 
proportions.  Time  is  too  short  to  give  a  true 
perspective.  One  looks  into  a  freak  mirror  and 
sees  things  with  features  that  are  recognizable  but 
distorted  and  misshapen.  Time  is  that  kind  of  a 
reflector,  but  eternity  is  a  faultless  mirror,  and 
he  who  looks  at  the  world  in  the  face  of  eternity 
gets  the  true  proportions.  All  things  fall  into 
harmony.  The  incomplete  becomes  complete ; 
the  wrong,  right ;  the  false,  true  j  cruelty,  love  ; 
the  defeat  of  truth,  its  triumph. 

“God’s  in  His  heaven  — 

All’s  right  with  the  world!  ” 

We  get  the  right  interpretation.  We  discover 
what  is  of  real  value.  We  are  emancipated  from 
slavery  to  trifles.  The  accidental  and  unimpor¬ 
tant  lose  their  power  to  destroy  peace  and  wreck 
happiness.  We  shake  off  the  bondage  of  the 
hour  and  emerge  from  the  cares  which  too  greatly 
absorb  us.  We  stand  up  from  our  toys  and 
trinkets  and  our  higher  courses  trace. 

1  Eccles.  3:11. 


18 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


We  also  get  the  right  vision.  We  discover 
God  in  this  world.  He  is  no  longer  the  foreign 
resident  of  a  distant  realm  who  sends  occasional 
messengers  to  this  ;  but  He  dwells  among  us.  He 
ceases  to  be  the  supernatural  tenant  of  some  far 
star  which  we  hear  about  in  a  vague  way  ;  for 
our  world  is  His  home.  Our  planet  is  as  celestial 
as  any,  and  our  times  as  sacred.  This  is  God’s 
world,  too.  The  eternal  in  our  hearts  enables  us 
to  see  the  eternal  around  us. 

There  is  the  story  of  an  old  Scotchman  whom 
the  traveller  saw  standing  one  early  morning  out¬ 
side  his  cottage  door,  with  hood  in  hand  and  un¬ 
covered  head,  bowed  as  if  in  prayer.  When  the 
old  man  looked  up,  the  stranger  said  :  “  I  saw 
you  were  offering  your  morning  prayer  and  did 
not  want  to  disturb  you.”  “Not  my  morning 
prayer,”  he  replied,  “but  my  morning  devotion. 
It  has  been  my  custom  every  morning  for  twenty 
years  to  come  outside  my  cottage  door  and  un¬ 
cover  my  head  to  the  beauty  of  the  world.  ’  ’ 

The  Scotchman  was  not  a  pagan.  His  was  a 
most  Christian  devotion.  What  he  saw  is  what 
every  one  sees  when  the  eternal  in  the  heart  looks 
out  through  the  eyes.  He  finds  that  he  does  not 
need  to  die  to  go  to  God  ;  God  has  come  to  him. 
God  is  not  only  in  His  heaven,  He  is  in  the  world, 
too,  in  the  beauty  of  nature,  in  the  sanctity  of 
opportunity,  in  the  purpose  of  providence,  in  the 
glory  of  duty,  in  the  divinity  of  sacrifice,  in  the 
deity  of  life. 

All  the  world  has  become  one  vast  temple  in 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


19 


which  not  only  everything  that  hath  breath,  but 
everything  that  hath  being  not  only  praises  but 
experiences  and  expresses  and  reveals  God. 

“  A  fire-mist  and  a  planet, 

A  crystal  and  a  cell, 

A  jelly-fish  and  a  saurian 
And  caves  where  the  cave-men  dwell ; 

Then  a  sense  of  law  and  beauty 
And  a  face  turned  from  the  clod, 

Some  call  it  Evolution, 

And  others  call  it  God. 

“  A  haze  on  the  far  horizon, 

The  infinite  tender  sky, 

The  ripe,  rich  fruits  of  the  corn-fields 
And  the  wild  geese  sailing  high ; 

And  all  over  upland  and  lowland 
The  charm  of  the  golden  rod, 

Some  of  us  call  it  Autumn, 

And  others  call  it  God. 

“  Like  tides  on  a  crescent  sea-beach, 

When  the  moon  is  new  and  thin, 

Into  our  hearts,  high  yearnings 
Come  welling  and  surging  in, 

Come  from  the  mystio  ocean 
Whose  rim  no  foot  has  trod, 

Some  of  us  call  it  Longing, 

And  others  call  it  God. 


4‘ A  picket  frozen  on  duty, 

A  mother  starved  for  her  brood, 
Socrates  drinking  the  hemlock, 
And  Jesus  on  the  rood ; 


20 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


And  millions  who,  humble  and  nameless, 

The  straight,  hard  pathway  trod, 

Some  call  it  Consecration, 

And  others  call  it  God.’’  1 

And  those  who  call  it  God  are  those  who  have 
God  within.  Sight  has  been  illumined  by  the 
mystic,  inner  light,  and  all  the  world  has  become 
a  beautiful  divinity  to  those  who  have  eternity  in 
their  hearts. 

1  Carruth. 


II 


HUMAN  NATURE  S  TRAILING  CLOUD 

OF  GLORY 

“  Not  in  entire  forgetfulness, 

And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 

But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come 
From  God,  who  is  our  home.” 

Thebe  is  a  doctrine  of  total  depravity.  Let 
us  be  orthodox  and  admit  it  Man  is  spiritually 
dead.  He  is  a  fallen  creature.  The  story  of  the 
accursed  Adam  and  the  lost  Eden  is  not  a  myth. 
Every  man  has  in  himself  the  proof  that  the  first 
page  of  Genesis  is  true. 

There  is,  however,  another  side  to  the  story  of 
the  fall.  If  man  has  wandered,  there  was  some¬ 
thing  to  wander  from.  If  he  be  a  fallen  creature, 
there  were  heights  from  which  he  fell.  The  story 
of  the  perfect  man  and  the  pristine  paradise  is 
no  myth  either.  Every  man,  however  low  down 
his  fall,  has  in  him  the  proof  that  this  page  of 
Genesis  is  also  true.  The  traceries  of  the  divine 
image  abide.  The  evidence  that  man  came  forth 
from  God’s  hand  lasts.  The  fall  did  not  destroy, 
it  only  distorted  and  discoloured  the  eternal  in 
man.  The  story  of  what  man  fell  from  is  as  im¬ 
portant  as  the  recital  of  what  he  fell  to  ;  and  it 
is  worth  while  to  think  back  beyond  the  flaming 
swords  and  the  shut  gates  of  the  lost  Eden  to  the 

21 


22 


THE  ETEKNAL  IN  MAN 


hour  when  God  said  :  u  Let  us  make  man  in  our 
image.” 

It  is  of  course  possible  to  glorify  human  nature 
overmuch,  and  by  dwelling  on  the  greatness  that 
remains,  to  minimize  the  calamity  that  wrecked 
the  Creator’s  finest  handiwork.  There  are  some 
who  would  substitute  manology  for  theology. 
Instead  of  the  Church  of  God  they  would  have 
the  Church  of  man.  They  like  to  spell  the  uni¬ 
verse  with  the  letter  that  has  a  dot  over  it,  and 
they  calmly  and  confidently  announce  that  man 
is  the  only  deity. 

It  is  a  grotesque  spectacle,  that  of  this  midget 
seated  amid  world-forces  he  neither  understands 
nor  can  control.  He  is  hardly  safe  so  far  from 
home.  He  deserves  the  tribute  which  a  mod¬ 
ern  newspaper  poet  pays  this  tendency  to  deify 
the  human.  Placing  his  hero  once  more  in  the 
nursery  he  sings  a  lay  of  greatness  : 

“Little  Jack  Horner 
Vibrated  in  a  corner 
With  a  New  Thought.  Christmas  pie. 

He  stuck  in  his  thumb, 

And  pulled  out  a  plum, 

And  cried  :  The  universe  is  mine  ! 

And  I  am  it !  ” 

While  it  is  not  sane  to  defame  human  nature, 
it  is  idiotic  to  deify  it. 

Between  the  two  extremes  of  undue  deprecia¬ 
tion  and  exaggerated  exaltation  lies  a  safe  middle 
where  the  high  and  lasting  dignity  of  man  even 
in  the  ruins  of  the  fall  appears  and  becomes  at 


NATURE’S  CLOUD  OF  GLORY 


23 


once  the  proof  of  what  he  was  and  the  call  to 
what  he  may  yet  become. 

On  one  occasion  Paul  took  Mars  Hill  for  his 
pulpit  and  with  an  audience  of  Stoics  and  Epi¬ 
cureans,  proclaimed  man’s  kinship  to  God.  He 
was  preaching  to  people  who  were  not  accus¬ 
tomed  to  lift  their  eyes  above  their  heads.  The 
Stoic  hobbled  his  soul  to  his  feet,  the  Epicurean 
merged  his  into  his  appetites.  The  creed  of  the 
Stoic  was  dumb  submission  to  the  inevitable, 
that  of  the  Epicurean  a  free  rein  to  sensual  indul¬ 
gence.  The  Stoic’s  god  was  fate,  the  Epicurean’s 
pleasure. 

Taking  a  line  from  one  of  their  own  poets, 
Paul  proclaimed  that  man  was  more  than  either 
Stoic  or  Epicurean  had  conceived  him  to  be.  He 
was  sprung  from  God. 

The  great  apostle  would  stir  those  Athenians 
with  the  doctrine  of  man’s  eternal  kinships.  He 
would  loose  their  souls  from  their  feet  and  stom¬ 
achs  and  tie  them  to  the  stars.  He  would  incite 
the  dull  naturalist  and  the  slow  sensualist  with 
lofty  purposes,  and  set  them  on  a  higher  quest. 
To  do  this  he  declares  that  God  not  only  may  be 
known,  but  that  man  is  His  offspring. 

This  is  the  height  from  which  man  fell.  This 
is  human  nature’s  trailing  cloud  of  glory.  Man 
is  more  than  a  spoonful  of  dust  under  peculiar 
atmospheric  conditions.  He  is  more  than  an  ani¬ 
mal.  He  is  fallen,  sinful,  plunging  like  a  lost 
spirit  from  summits  of  bliss  to  abysmal  shame 
and  wretchedness,  but  there  trail  behind  him 


24 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


clouds  of  glory  from  the  realms  of  light  which 
are  the  evidence  of  his  high  birth. 

In  a  buried  city  like  Pompeii  or  Herculaneum, 
he  who  digs  amid  the  ruins  may  discover  the 
city’s  plan  and  form  some  idea  of  the  beauty  and 
glory  of  its  better  days.  Likewise  one  may  find 
even  amid  the  ruins  of  fallen  human  nature,  the 
lines  which  recite  a  celestial  origin. 

There  is  abundant  evidence  in  man  himself 
that  he  is  not  a  clod  in  course  of  evolution,  a 
protoplasmic  cell  reduplicating,  a  bundle  of  sen¬ 
sory  nerves,  a  process  of  digestion,  an  act  of 
assimilation. 

His  Vices 

The  very  traits  and  passions  which  announce 
and  recite  the  collapse  and  ruin  of  man’s  nature, 
at  the  same  time  give  evidence  of  the  fact  that  he 
comes  of  a  royal  line. 

Covetousness  is  a  part  of  human  depravity,  but 
it  is  a  royal  vice.  It  has  a  grip  which  death 
alone  can  break.  It  pursues  resistlessly  its  goal 
and  in  order  to  reach  it,  defies  all  hardships, 
risks  all  diseases,  faces  all  climates,  bears  all 
separations.  The  perils  of  the  Klondike,  the 
burning  sands  of  the  desert,  the  jungle  and  wil¬ 
derness,  the  privations  of  exile,  the  horrors  of 
pestilence  do  not  give  it  pause.  It  is  a  master 
passion.  Little  wonder  Christ  put  covetousness 
into  a  pillory  and  branded  it  as  idolatry. 

Nevertheless,  base  as  it  is,  it  lias  a  kind  of 
greatness.  It  requires  a  soul  of  no  mean  size  to 


NATURE’S  CLOUD  OF  GLORY 


25 


be  capable  oi'  such  a  monster  vice.  There  are 
lordly  possibilities  in  a  nature,  fallen  though  it 
be,  which  sets  itself  and  refuses  to  swerve,  which 
lays  hold  with  a  grip  that  death  alone  can  loosen. 
Covetousness  is  a  sin  but  it  is  the  sin  of  one  who 
was  made  but  a  little  lower  than  the  angels. 

Hate  is  a  part  of  man’s  ruin.  Fallen  human 
nature  is  capable  of  a  hatred  which,  in  its  blind 
and  fiery  passion,  defies  all  bounds.  It  nurses  a 
resentment  that  hounds  its  victim  to  the  grave 
and  hands  down  to  succeeding  generations  its 
legacy  of  revenge.  No  wild  beast  can  be  more 
ferocious  than  this  human  hyena.  Hate  revels 
in  pain,  rejoices  in  torture,  and  dances  in  a 
frenzy  of  delight  over  the  ruin  of  its  foe.  It  is 
the  ante  room  to  perdition.  Hate  is  hell.  It 
is  nevertheless  the  trait  of  a  giant.  Consider  the 
big  capacities  of  a  creature  with  such  powers  of 
feeling ;  the  colossal  build  of  a  being  that  can 
leap  such  plunges  of  revenge. 

Hate  recites  the  infamy  of  the  soul,  but  it  is 
a  soul  whose  vistas  are  magnificent  distances. 
There  is  no  process  of  evolution  that  could  im¬ 
part  such  a  temperament  to  a  clod  ;  no  environ¬ 
ment  that  could  invest  a  cell  of  protoplasm  with 
such  capacities.  The  power  to  hate  proves  that 
man  started  high. 

Remorse  is  another  of  the  fallen  passions  with 
a  trailing  cloud  of  glory.  A  mere  animal  knows 
nothing  of  remorse.  He  licks  the  blood  of  his 
prey  from  his  paws  and  without  a  pang  retires 
to  his  lair  to  sleep  with  no  spectre  of  crime  to 


26 


THE  ETEBNAL  IN  MAN 


trouble  his  dreams.  The  human  assassin,  on  the 
other  hand  is  haunted  by  a  constant  fear.  He 
cannot  shake  off  the  nemesis  that  dogs  his  tracks. 
He  sees  a  shadow  by  his  side.  The  stain  of  his 
victim’s  blood  will  not  wash  out.  He  starts  in 
his  sleep  and  shrieks  out  his  despair  in  troubled 
dreams.  Bemorse  blanches  his  face,  makes  him 
haggard  and  hollow-eyed,  gives  him  the  heart  of 
a  coward  and  the  brow  of  a  Cain. 

Bemorse  is  the  torment  of  the  damned.  Surely 
a  soul  that  can  suffer  remorse  must  have  a  bigger 
destiny  than  time.  Bemorse  can  be  explained 
only  by  the  eternal  in  man.  It  is  a  sign  of  the 
persistent  survival  in  the  fallen  soul  of  those 
divine  sentiments  man  got  from  his  divine  pro¬ 
genitor.  It  is  a  high  and  eternal  sense  of  right 
delivering  its  indignant  protest  against  crime, 
and,  in  the  central  chamber  of  consciousness,  ex¬ 
ecuting  on  itself  the  penalty  for  wrong-doing. 

Suicide  is  the  mad  act  of  one  to  whom  the  ills 
or  sins  of  life  have  become  unendurable.  It  is 
the  strange  sepulchral  testimony  of  the  soul  to 
its  own  immortality.  If  the  soul  be  not  immortal, 
why  should  one’s  misdeeds  drive  to  self-murder  ? 
Why  care  for  exposure,  disgrace,  degradation, 
sin,  if  they  are  only  shadows'?  But  man  does 
care.  He  cannot  help  himself.  The  wild  beast 
has  neither  remorse  nor  self-murder.  Man  is  the 
only  creature  that  takes  his  own  life.  The  fact 
that  he  is,  lifts  him  out  of  the  animal  class.  It 
is  the  proof  of  a  lingering  divinity  in  the  soul 
whose  presence  is  so  persistent,  imperial,  inex- 


NATURE’S  CLOUD  OF  GLORY  27 


orable,  and  whose  fiery  anathema  against  evil  is 
so  unendurable,  that  at  last  in  the  vain,  mad 
effort  to  escape  itself,  the  soul  betakes  to  suicide. 

These  are  some  of  the  trailing  clouds  of  fallen 
human  nature — covetousness,  hate,  remorse,  sui¬ 
cide.  They  are  the  ruins  of  a  soul,  but  they  sig¬ 
nify  a  soul  that  was  cast  in  heroic  mould. 

His  Virtues 

If  this  be  the  testimony  of  his  defects,  much 
more  is  it  the  testimony  of  his  powers  and  vir¬ 
tues.  There  are  certain  traits  and  appetites 
which  persist  despite  the  fall,  and  which  an¬ 
nounce  and  certify  the  fact  that  man  is  God’s  off¬ 
spring. 

One  of  these  is  the  human  will.  It  is  not  om¬ 
nipotent,  but  it  is  powerful.  It  can  be  broken 
down  by  sin  and  enslaved  by  vice,  nevertheless 
in  the  worst  and  weakest  of  men,  the  will  sur¬ 
vives.  It  is  the  element  in  whose  might  one  may 
set  himself  against  the  tide,  stand  up  to  hardship 
and  disaster,  defy  fate,  shake  off  the  handicap  of 
heredity,  and  conquer  conquering  circumstance. 
It  gives  to  putty  the  stiffness  of  steel.  Lord  Kel¬ 
vin  says  :  u  Every  action  of  the  human  free-will 
is  a  miracle  to  physical  and  chemical  and  mathe¬ 
matical  science.  ’  ’  It  cannot  be  weighed  nor  meas¬ 
ured,  but  it  exists.  Next  to  the  Almighty  it  is 
the  greatest  force  in  the  universe.  It  is  one  of 
the  voices  of  our  nature  which  names  God  as 
our  Father. 

Another  is  the  imagination.  It  is  the  soul’s 


28 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


creative  faculty,  by  wliicli  a  man  may  make  a 
universe  of  liis  own.  The  man  of  imagination 
may  live  in  all  worlds,  on  all  planets,  in  all  ages. 
Imagination  speaks  all  languages  and  shares  all 
experiences.  It  travels  through  history  and 
makes  every  century  its  own.  It  fights  all  bat¬ 
tles,  suffers  all  defeats,  achieves  all  victories, 
lives  all  lives,  dies  all  deaths.  It  is  a  citizen  of 
the  world  at  large,  the  true  cosmopolitan.  It 
breaks  through  the  boundaries  of  time,  descends 
into  hell,  ascends  into  heaven.  Who  can  tether 
the  imagination u?  How  ridiculous  the  philosophy 
that  would  attempt  to  confine  to  time’s  brief 
localities  a  being  who  has  already  travelled  in  all 
worlds  and  lived  in  all  ages  ! 

Aspiration  is  another  of  man’s  eternal  traits. 
The  soul  has  a  way,  to  which  we  have  given  the 
name  of  u  worship.”  It  looks  beyond,  above. 
It  prays,  reverences,  fears,  hopes.  It  is  not  satis¬ 
fied.  It  believes  in  and  seeks  something  better. 
What  is  all  this  but  the  cry  of  a  lost  child  for 
home  ?  It  is  the  sigh  of  the  longing  heart  for  a 
sight  of  the  Father’s  face.  It  is  the  evidence  of 
divine  possibilities.  It  is  a  declaration  that  man 
will  never  be  happy  until  he  recovers  the  heights 
from  which  he  has  fallen  and  awakes  in  the  like¬ 
ness  in  which  he  was  created. 

Perhaps  the  greatest  of  all  these  godlike  at¬ 
tributes  in  the  human  is  love.  Man  can  hate, 
but  he  can  also  love  ;  and  his  love  is  as  tender  as 
his  hate  is  fierce.  He  can  be  tamed  by  love  and 
ruled  by  kindness.  What  is  this  but  saying  that 


NATURE’S  CLOUD  OF  GLORY  29 


there  is  something  within  which  still  hears  and 
hearkens  to  the  call  of  the  eternal  ?  Under  the 
influence  of  love,  man  goes  out  to  live  the  life  of 
God,  turning  his  back  on  ease,  putting  self  aside, 
suffering,  sacrificing,  and  going  at  last  to  his 
Calvary.  It  is  a  spark  of  divinity  smouldering 
within  him.  It  is  love,  and  God  is  love.  To 
love  as  God  loves  is  to  be  as  God  is. 

These  are  some  of  the  glory -clouds  that  trail 
in  the  wrake  of  the  fall,  will-power,  imagination, 
aspiration,  love.  Following  their  wake  takes  us 
back  into  the  court  of  heaven  and  up  to  the 
eternal  throne. 

One  can  understand  how  a  flower  may  wither, 
but  not  how  a  soul  with  such  power  and  beauty 
can  ever  die.  The  cloud  on  the  horizon  will 
pass,  but  a  nature  capable  of  these  eternal  traits 
and  passions  will  never  resolve  into  a  wraith  of 
mist. 

Explanation,  Protest  and  Prophecy 

Human  nature’s  trailing  cloud  of  glory  be¬ 
comes  an  explanation,  a  protest  and  a  proph¬ 
ecy.  It  explains  God’s  interest  in  man.  He 
has  always  been  interested.  His  yearning  has 
been  eternal.  Why?  Because  we  are  His  off¬ 
spring.  It  was  a  sad  day  with  God  wdien  man 
fell.  It  was  the  rebellion  of  a  child,  who  threw 
himself  out  of  his  Father’s  house  and  became  a 
prodigal.  But  God’s  love  went  after  the 
wanderer. 

It  explains  the  gospel.  This  is  the  heart  beat 


30 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


of  Calvary.  It  explains  the  sufferings  of  Christ 
and  the  joy  among  the  angels  over  a  penitent  sin¬ 
ner.  The  prodigal  has  returned,  and  God  is  the 
father  whose  rejoicing  heart  is  saying:  “My 
son  that  was  dead,  is  alive  again.” 

It  is  a  protest  against  sin.  Man  has  too  high 
an  origin  to  live  in  sin.  He  was  built  for  a  big¬ 
ger  destiny  than  to  grovel  in  animalism.  He 
comes  to  his  own  as  he  strangles  lust  and  breaks 
with  sin.  The  eternal  in  man  calls  for  a  holy 
life. 

It  is  a  prophecy  of  redemption.  God  cannot 
afford  to  neglect  a  human  soul,  even  though  it  be 
a  soul  in  ruins.  There  is  too  much  that  is 
precious  still  left.  The  ruin  must  be  restored. 
It  is  worth  restoring.  If,  despite  the  fall,  so 
much  of  eternal  value  remains,  what  tongue  can 
tell  the  glory  of  a  soul  redeemed ;  the  rapture 
and  blessedness  of  the  heights  recovered  ? 

u  Beloved,  now  are  we  the  sons  of  God,  and  it 
doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be  ;  but  we 
know  that  when  He  shall  appear,  we  shall  be  like 
Him  ;  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is.  ”  1 


1  John  3  :  2. 


THE  WITHOUT  AND  WITHIN  OF  LIFE 


“Outward  life  is  light  and  shadow, 

Mingled  wrong  and  struggling  right, 

But  within  the  outward  trouble 
Shines  a  healing,  inward  light. 

“  Not  to  us  may  come  fulfillment, 

Not  below  our  struggles  cease, 

Yet  the  heavenly  vision  gives  us, 

Even  here,  an  inward  peace.” 

It  requires  no  profound  analysis  to  discover  iu 
human  life  two  parts — body  and  spirit,  flesh  and 
soul,  the  temporal  and  the  timeless.  Both  must 
be  provided  for,  since  each  is  important. 

The  body  insists  on  attention.  While  man 
was  never  meant  to  live  by  bread  alone,  he  can¬ 
not  long  live  without  it.  The  Christian  Scien¬ 
tist,  in  his  higher  creedal  moments,  may  relegate 
the  substantial  and  material  to  the  realm  of  the 
imaginary  and  unreal,  but  even  the  Christian 
Scientist  is  usually  ready  for  dinner.  On  the 
other  hand,  one  who  stops  with  his  dinner,  whose 
aspirations  are  all  appetites,  and  whose  ambition 
never  gets  beyond  his  cook  and  tailor,  must  be 
classed  as  an  inferior  animal. 

Both  body  and  soul  are  facts  of  being,  and 
life’s  business  is  rightly  to  relate  them  to  each 

31 


32 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


oilier.  It  is  a  mistake  to  live  in  the  bodv  as  if 
there  were  no  soul ;  and  almost  as  great  a  mis¬ 
take  to  magnify  the  soul  in  such  a  way  as  to 
debase  the  body. 

The  Without  of  Life 

There  are  temporal  needs  which  must  be  met. 
Food,  shelter  and  clothing  are  necessaries  of  life. 
Beyond  these  things  which  appear  on  the  daily 
bill  of  fare,  all  that  which  ministers  to  a  com¬ 
fortable  and  happy  condition  of  existence  must 
be  regarded  as  a  part  of  the  rights  of  the 
flesh. 

Asceticism  is  life’s  abortion.  There  is  no  great 
need  however  for  uttering  a  protest  against  the 
niggardly  treatment  of  the  physical.  Much  of 
man’s  time  and  effort  is  devoted  to  the  without 
of  life,  and  necessarily  so.  One  must  live.  Nine- 
tenths  of  the  working  time  of  the  average  man  is 
spent  in  earning  a  livelihood.  We  spend  our¬ 
selves  for  wages  or  salary.  Outside  liabilities 
must  be  met.  Life  is  a  scramble  to  get  on  ;  and 
the  common  estimate  of  the  difference  between 
two  given  men  is  not  in  native  ability  or  acquired 
culture,  but  in  what  they  have.  One  has  suc¬ 
ceeded  and  the  other  failed  in  property,  position, 
condition. 

This  standard  is  not  to  be  dismissed  with  a 
sneer.  To  many  it  is  the  imperative  standard 
and  refuses  to  be  set  aside.  Even  God  does  not 
altogether  despise  it.  He  is  interested  in  the 
temporal  as  well  as  the  eternal.  The  Lord’s 


WITHOUT  AND  WITHIN  OF  LIFE  33 


Prayer  contains  a  petition  for  “daily  bread.” 
There  is  a  gospel  of  labour  as  well  as  a  gospel  of 
pardon  and  peace. 

It  is  something  to  God  that  people  are  hungry 
and  cold  and  weary  and  diseased.  The  Son  of 
Man  came  with  a  ministry  to  the  without  of  life, 
and  when  John  the  Baptist  sent  to  ask  whether 
He  were  the  Messiah,  Christ  said:  “Go  and  tell 
John  the  things  which  ye  hear  and  see ;  the  blind 
receive  their  sight,  and  the  lame  walk,  the  lepers 
are  cleansed,  and  the  deaf  hear,  and  the  dead 
are  raised  up,  and  the  poor  have  good  tidings 
preached  to  them.”  1 

Jesus  was  touched  by  the  spectacle  of  physical 
suffering  and  bodily  want  j  and  the  religion  that 
is  not,  is  a  sham.  “Pure  religion  and  undefiled 
before  our  God  and  Father  is  this,  to  visit  the 
fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction,  and  to 
keep  oneself  unspotted  from  the  world.”  1  God 
is  man’s  friend  in  the  struggle  to  keep  the  wolf 
from  the  door. 

The  mistake  is  made  when  one  becomes  so 
engrossed  with  the  without  that  he  forgets  the 
within  of  life,  and  concludes  that  when  he  has 
gotten  a  living  he  has  gotten  all  worth  having 
and  seeking. 

The  neglect  of  the  spiritual  is  a  common  over¬ 
sight.  1  i  What  is  honour  ? 7  7  some  one  asks  and 
answers,  ‘  *  Honour  will  not  buy  a  breakfast. 7  7  Let 
a  man  be  well  groomed  and  well  fed  and  what 
prayer  remains  unanswered  ?  Is  it  not  enough 

1  Matt.  11 : 5.  2  James  1 :  27. 


34 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


to  be  worth  a  million  dollars  or  a  billion  if  one 
care  to  raise  the  figures  ? 

It  is  the  eager  chase  for  something  to  make  the 
outside  richer  that  produces  the  fever  of  unrest 
in  modern  life.  People  rarely  suffer  a  nervous 
break-down  on  account  of  anxiety  over  the  state 
of  the  soul.  Nervous  prostration  may  often  be 
diagnosed  as  nervous  prosperity.  Often  the  val¬ 
uation  put  on  God  is  in  proportion  to  His  ability 
to  bless  the  body.  Can  He  help  us  get  on  ?  Can 
He  give  us  business  success  ?  Is  He  a  Deity  that 
can  deliver  the  goods  ?  To  analyze  the  average 
prayer  is  to  discover  that  our  most  earnest  sup¬ 
plications  are  fervent  petitions  to  get  on.  The 
oratory  smacks  of  the  purse,  the  larder,  the  ward¬ 
robe,  crops,  investments.  These  are  the  main 
things.  A  paragraph  at  the  close,  which  we  are 
not  anxious  to  have  considered  immediately,  and 
which  is  thrown  in  for  spiritual  flavour,  usually 
suffices  for  the  needs  of  the  soul. 

Much  of  one’s  moral  and  philanthropic  concern 
terminates  on  the  outside.  It  proceeds  on  the 
theory  that  man’s  chief  end  is  to  have  a  well 
groomed  body.  If  only  the  without  can  be  kept 
in  a  state  of  good  repair,  little  else  is  needed.  It 
is  vastly  easier  to  get  people  interested  in  socio¬ 
logical  reform  than  in  spiritual  work.  What  the 
dependent  classes  need  is  sanitation,  wages,  better 
tenements,  a  cleaner  and  more  commodious  out¬ 
side.  This  is  society’s  millennium. 

What  is  all  this  but  making  the  baggage  of 
more  importance  than  the  man?  It  is  deifying 


WITHOUT  AND  WITHIN  OF  LIFE  35 


dust  and  glorifying  the  accidental.  It  is  the 
worship  of  rations  and  the  adoration  of  uniform. 
The  results  must  be  disappointing ;  for  important 
as  it  is,  the  without  is  the  lesser  part  of  life. 
There  is  a  gospel  for  the  body,  but  its  funda¬ 
mental  doctrine  is  that  the  body  is  the  servant  of 
the  soul.  As  Moses  bade  his  people  farewell,  he 
became  prophetic  and  gave  to  each  tribe  a  bless¬ 
ing.  To  Asher  he  said  :  1  1  Thy  shoes  shall  be 
iron  and  brass  and  as  thy  days,  so  shall  thy 
strength  be.”  1  It  was  a  promise  for  the  with¬ 
out  and  within  of  life ;  a  promise  of  shoes  and 
strength  ;  shoes  for  the  journey  and  strength  for 
the  journeyman.  It  was  a  proffer  of  supplies  for 
both  body  and  soul,  for  time  and  eternity.  It 
covered  all  life  and  pledged  enough  for  every 
emergency. 

Moses’  blessing  also  defines  the  relative  value 
of  the  two  parts  of  human  life.  The  journeyman 
is  of  more  importance  than  the  journey ;  his 
strength  is  of  more  value  than  his  shoes.  Success 
is  a  bigger  thing  than  getting  oneself  well  shod. 
It  is  the  acquisition  of  character.  It  is  the  rec¬ 
ognition,  assertion,  and  development  of  the  eter¬ 
nal  in  man. 


The  Within  of  Life 

There  is  a  soul  as  well  as  a  body.  There  is  a 
realm  of  the  moral,  the  intellectual,  the  spiritual, 
where  thought  lives  and  the  will  is  king.  There 
is  a  world  of  imagination  and  memory,  of  faith, 


1  Deut.  33  :  25. 


38 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


hope  and  love.  There  the  assets  are  not  what  we 
have,  but  what  we  are.  There  the  eternal  tops 
the  temporal,  the  spiritual  towers  above  the 
carnal,  the  soul  escapes  the  dust.  To  this  God 
gives  the  first  place.  It  is  the  kingdom  within 
us.  It  is  not  meat  and  drink,  but  righteousness, 
peace  and  j  oy  in  the  Holy  Ghost. 

It  ranks  first  because  the  life  is  more  than  meat 
and  the  body  than  raiment,  and  though  a  man 
should  gain  the  whole  world  he  is  profited  noth¬ 
ing  if  in  the  quest  for  the  without  he  sacrifice  the 
within  of  life  and  lose  his  own  soul. 

Man  is  more  than  his  sandals,  the  picture  than 
its  frame,  the  book  than  the  paper  on  which  it  is 
printed,  the  soldier  than  his  uniform,  the  soul 
than  its  playground  or  field  of  work. 

Existence  is  reversed  and  the  logic  of  being  dis¬ 
credited  when  the  without  is  rated  higher  than 
the  within,  when  tools  are  made  more  of  than 
skill,  position  than  character,  circumstances  than 
being.  Christianity  is  preeminently  the  religion 
of  the  inner  life.  It  is  not  unmindful  of  the  out¬ 
side,  but  its  plan  is  to  bless  the  temporal  by 
building  up  that  part  of  man  which  is  eternal. 

Things  get  a  value  only  because  there  are  peo¬ 
ple.  Caste  and  place  dwindle  in  the  majestic 
presence  of  personality.  It  is  not  a  great  ques¬ 
tion  whether  one  be  president  or  wage-earner, 
general  or  corporal.  The  spiritual  part  is  an  in¬ 
finite  dimension,  and  in  the  lens  of  the  infinite,  a 
grain  of  sand  and  a  universe  measure  the  same. 

No  wonder  Christ’s  gospel  spends  itself  chiefly 


WITHOUT  AND  WITHIN  OF  LIFE  37 


on  the  soul,  building  up  the  spiritual  man  and 
developing  the  kingdom  that  is  within.  He 
came,  not  that  His  people  might  have  lands, 
houses,  titles,  degrees,  but  life,  and  that  they 
might  have  it  more  abundantly. 

His  plan  is  not  to  lessen  man’s  duties,  but  to 
enlarge  his  privileges  ;  not  to  shorten  his  tasks 
but  to  lengthen  his  skill ;  not  to  diminish  his  bur¬ 
dens  but  to  increase  his  strength  ;  not  to  obliter¬ 
ate  sorrow,  poverty,  misfortune,  but  to  make 
the  man  so  great  that  these  shall  lose  their  power 
to  distress  him. 

He  creates  and  rejuvenates  the  within.  Occa¬ 
sionally  He  says  to  some  storm  on  the  sea,  “  Peace 
be  still,”  but  ever  He  whispers  to  the  soul,  “Be 
not  afraid;  it  is  I.”  He  gives  contentment  in 
annoyance,  happiness  in  adversity,  rest  in  work, 
peace  in  strife. 

The  great  things  of  life  are  within.  Honesty 
is  better  than  wealth.  A  poor  man  is  better  than 
a  liar.  .Honesty  never  decays.  It  is  needed, 
even  in  time,  more  than  millions  from  the  mint. 

In  the  University  of  Virginia  hangs  an  old  oil 
portrait  of  Thomas  Jefferson,  the  founder,  and 
beneath  it  this  line  from  the  great  statesman  : 
“The  art  of  government  is  the  art  of  being 
honest.” 

Courage  is  better  than  peace.  Courage  van¬ 
quishes  opposition  and  makes  defeat  into  victory. 

1  1  Sudden  the  worst  turns  the  best  to  the  brave.  ’  ’ 

Sacrifice  is  better  than  opportunity.  It  is  that 
trait  which,  behind  and  above  honesty  and  eour- 


3$ 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


age,  builds  manhood  towards  God.  He  who  has 
learned  how  to  sacrifice  expediency  for  goodness, 
rights  for  duties,  self  for  fellow,  has  acquired  the 
divine  way. 

These  are  some  of  the  divine  products  of  the 
inner  life — honesty,  courage,  sacrifice.  No  ex¬ 
ternal  value  approaches  them,  and  the  personality 
which  incorporates  them  into  its  make-up  is  for¬ 
ever. 


The  Eternal  Test 

An  hour  comes  when  the  without  of  life  is  put 
out  of  action.  It  is  left  behind  and  laid  aside. 
The  journey  is  ended  and  at  the  gate  of  the  in¬ 
visible  world  the  command  to  the  journeyman  is 
“Put  off  thy  shoes  from  off  thy  feet  for  the 
ground  whereon  thou  standest  is  holy  ground.” 

We  do  not  take  the  without  of  life  into  the 
other  world.  Houses,  positions,  titles,  belong¬ 
ings,  circumstances,  opportunities  are  all  left  be¬ 
hind  ;  and  over  the  tabernacle  of  flesh,  crumbling 
to  decay  on  the  final  shore  of  time,  the  ritual 
pronounces  “Earth  to  earth,  ashes  to  ashes,  dust 
to  dust.” 

The  question  of  immortality  locates  in  the 
within  of  life.  Character  determines  destiny. 

“I  myself  am  heaven  and  hell.” 

What  is  life? — shoes  or  strength,  protoplasm 
or  spirit,  cash  or  vision,  appetites  or  aspirations? 
“This  mortal  must  put  on  immortality.” 

The  eternal  in  man  pleads  for  a  life  that  here 
in  time  ‘ 1  tastes  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  ’  ’ 


WITHOUT  AND  WITHIN  OF  LIFE  30 

and  seeks  the  city  which  hath  foundations,  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God. 

Through  the  deep  caverns  of  destiny  it  hears 
the  voice  that  sings  : 

“  Build  thee  more  stately  mansions,  O  my  soul  ! 

As  the  swift  seasons  roll ! 

Leave  thy  low  vaulted  past ! 

Let  each  new  temple,  nobler  than  the  last, 

Shut  thee  from  heaven  with  a  dome  more  vast, 

Till  thou  at  length  art  free, 

Leaving  thine  outgrown  shell  by  life’s  unresting  sea  !  ”  1 


Oliver  Wendell  Holmes. 


IV 

A  CITIZEN  OF  TWO  WORLDS 

“  Whither,  midst  falling  dew, 

While  glow  the  heavens  with  the  last  steps  of  day, 
Far,  through  their  rosy  depths,  dost  thou  pursue 
Thy  solitary  way  ?  ” 

—  William  Cullen  Bryant, 

“  Life — the  childhood  of  immortality  !  ” — Goethe. 

Some  one  has  said  that  man  is  one  world  and 
has  another  to  attend  him.  The  truth  is  man  is 
both  worlds.  He  is  a  citizen  of  the  temporal  and 
of  the  eternal,  and  all  his  acts  and  aspirations 
poll  a  double  suffrage.  His  time- relations  affect 
his  eternal  interests  ;  and  his  eternal  longings, 
either  consciously  or  unconsciously,  elect  his 
choices,  his  conduct  and  his  character  in  time. 

The  Two  Worlds 

Both  worlds  are  real  and  their  existence  does 
not  admit  of  reasonable  doubt.  No  one  in  his 
senses  thinks  of  doubting  the  world  of  time.  A 
kind  of  metaphysics  that  has  lost  its  way  in  the 
fog-banks  of  empty  and  absurd  speculations  may 
rpiestion  the  substantial  reality  of  the  material 
universe.  It  may  say  that  the  iron  pillar  against 
which  one  drives  his  fist  has  no  tangible  reality, 
that  the  dollar  he  chases  is  imaginary,  that  the 
food  he  eats  and  the  clothes  he  wears  are  mere 
mental  concepts  or  nerve  sensations  with  no  sub- 

40 


A  CITIZEN  OF  TWO  WORLDS 


41 


stantial  entities  corresponding  to  the  mental  im¬ 
pression  ;  but  common  sense  diagnoses  such  meta¬ 
physics  as  mild  dementia. 

The  temporal  exists.  It  is  too  insistent  to  be 
ignored.  We  eat  it,  breathe  it,  hear  it,  taste  it, 
see  it,  walk  and  work  with  it.  It  is  all  around 
us.  We  could  as  easily  doubt  our  own  existence 
as  that  of  this  world  in  which  we  dwell. 

Of  this  time- world  man  is  a  citizen.  He  has 
certain  privileges,  duties,  franchises  here.  He  is 
tied  to  this  world  and  cannot  emancipate  himself 
from  its  dominion  until  that  mysterious  power 
which  presides  over  human  destiny  says,  u  Loose 
him  and  let  him  go.,? 

Man  is  also  the  citizen  of  another  world.  The 
eternal  is  just  as  real  as  the  temporal,  just  as 
substantial.  Although  it  is  often  treated  as  a 
dream-world  and  conceived  of  as  existing  only  in 
the  imagination,  with  no  corresponding  realities 
to  its  faiths  and  hopes,  the  doubt  that  discredits 
the  eternal  is  also  dementia. 

Man  is  a  citizen  of  eternity.  He  is  akin  to 
the  divine  as  well  as  to  the  human.  The  ages 
as  well  as  the  hours  peal  their  tones  around 
him.  The  invisible  no  less  than  the  visible 
hovers  over  him. 

He  has  faculties  that  can  find  no  field  for  their 
employment  short  of  the  eternal,  and  experiences 
for  which  there  is  no  other  assignable  origin. 
Whence  come  thoughts  of  God,  the  disposition 
to  worship,  the  sense  of  responsibility,  the  spell 
of  the  infinite,  if  the  eternal  be  fictitious !  How 


42 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


does  it  happen  that  the  soul,  shut  in  a  window¬ 
less  cell,  gets  visions  of  limitless  stretches  of  be¬ 
ing,  if  the  cell  be  all  there  is  of  life,  and  death’s 
touch  total  extinction  ? 

The  eternal  must  be  recognized.  The  convic¬ 
tion  that  existence  overleaps  time  is  too  wide¬ 
spread  to  be  despised  and  too  strong  to  be 
strangled.  In  every  human  heart  there  is  a  cry 
for  God,  a  sigh  for  the  permanent.  The  longing 
at  times  may  become  obscure  but  it  abides.  The 
passion  for  pleasure  may  retire  it,  the  greed  of 
the  money  grubber  may  despise  it,  but  it  sur¬ 
vives,  deep  as  the  soul,  solemn  as  conscience, 
majestic  as  being. 

It  was  Aristotle  who  said,  ‘ 1  Whatsoever  that 
be  within  us  that  feels,  thinks,  desires,  and  ani¬ 
mates,  is  something  celestial,  divine,  and  conse¬ 
quently  imperishable.  ’  ’ 

Time  and  eternity  are  the  two  worlds  in  which 
every  man  holds  citizenship.  He  can  no  more 
evade  one  than  the  other.  He  can  no  more  afford 
to  lose  one  than  the  other.  He  no  more  needs  to 
fear  one  than  the  other.  Just  as  certainly  as  this 
world  in  which  one  sees,  speaks,  breathes  and 
works,  is  a  reality  and  he  is  a  citizen  of  time  ; 
not  a  whit  less  certainly  is  there  an  invisible 
world  flowing  around  him,  waving  signals,  call¬ 
ing,  warning,  making  impressions,  offering  op¬ 
portunities,  demanding  duties,  and  declaring 
him  a  citizen  of  eternity.  He  cannot  escape 
either.  To  try  to  do  so  is  futile,  to  desire  it  is 
foolish. 


A  CITIZEN  OF  TWO  WORLDS 


43 


The  Gates  of  Entrance 

Man  breaks  into  time  with  his  senses.  The 
body  is  a  machine,  with  which  consciousness  is 
equipped  and  by  means  of  which  personality 
gets  into  correspondence  with  time.  To  conceive 
of  a  consciousness  located  in  a  body  without  the 
five  senses  ;  lacking  eyes,  ears,  touch,  taste,  and 
smell,  is  to  conceive  of  a  body  that  has  lost  its 
time-connections.  In  the  process  of  its  develop¬ 
ment, — shall  we  say? — the  body  achieves  an  eye 
and  consciousness  breaks  into  the  world  of  light ; 
an  ear  and  consciousness  breaks  into  the  world 
of  sound. 

It  is  evident  that  in  the  apprehension  of  the 
material,  the  soundness  of  all  these  sense-percep¬ 
tions  is  of  prime  importance.  To  go  blind  is  to 
lose  part  of  one’s  temporal  franchise.  To  go 
deaf  is  to  be  made  a  poorer  citizen  of  time. 
When  all  these  faculties  fall  into  decay  and  lose 
their  powers  of  perception,  the  time- world  is  so 
completely  lost  that  the  collapse  is  called 
“  death.” 

Man  breaks  into  eternity  with  his  soul.  There 
are  faculties  of  spiritual  perception,  more  in¬ 
tangible  but  not  less  real  than  the  senses  of  the 
flesh. 

One  cannot  taste  or  smell  or  see  eternity.  It 
would  be  as  reasonable  to  try  to  determine  the 
flavour  of  a  banana  by  hunger  for  righteousness 
as  to  investigate  the  realm  of  the  spiritual  with  a 
surgeon’s  scalpel  or  to  explore  for  the  eternal 
with  a  microscopic  slide.  The  Professor  of 


44 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Anatomy  in  a  certain  University  who  sneered 
at  the  existence  of  the  soul,  because  he  had 
never  been  able  to  dissect  a  place  for  it  in  the 
body,  had  about  as  much  sense  of  the  use  of 
tools  as  the  man  who  would  try  to  judge  colour 
with  his  palate  or  enjoy  music  with  his  nose. 

The  soul  is  a  machine  with  which  consciousness 
is  equipped  and  by  which  personality  gets  into 
correspondence  with  eternity. 

It  becomes,  therefore,  not  only  important  to 
have  a  soul,  but  to  have  a  sound  one,  if  we  are 
to  get  the  best  eternity  has  to  give.  One  will 
derive  from  his  citizenship  in  the  eternal,  no 
more  and  no  less  than  the  soul  apprehends.  If 
the  soul  be  diseased,  if  it  be  base  and  sordid  and 
selfish,  the  eternal  in  man  will  be  correspond¬ 
ingly  infirm.  If  the  soul  be  sound,  generous, 
merciful,  truth  loving  and  seeking,  the  eternal 
will  be  of  the  same  character.  As  well  try  to 
get  the  glory  of  a  sunrise  scene  into  conscious¬ 
ness  from  the  temporal  through  sightless  eyes, 
as  the  glory  of  righteousness  and  holiness  into 
consciousness  from  the  eternal  through  a  sight¬ 
less  soul. 

It  makes  all  the  difference,  as  to  the  eternal  in 
man,  what  kind  of  a  soul  one  has. 

“  I  sent  my  soul  through  the  invisible, 

Some  question  of  that  after  life  to  spell ; 

And  by  and  by  my  soul  returned  to  me 
And  answered,  I  myself  am  heaven  and  hell. ? ' 

Redemption  is  not  so  much  a  scheme  to  achieve 


A  CITIZEN  OF  TWO  WORLDS 


45 


the  existence  of  a  soul,  as  it  is  a  method  to  cure 
a  diseased  soul.  The  soul  already  exists.  It 
may  be  blind  and  deaf,  but  it  is.  What  it  needs 
is  to  have  all  its  powers  in  unblemished  perfec¬ 
tion  and  its  divine  capacities  developed  and 
made  usable.  Jesus’  mission  is  to  put  the  soul 
in  a  position  to  get  the  best  out  of  the  eternal,  to 
open  u})  avenues  into  realms  of  ineffable  peace, 
victorious  power,  and  unclouded  joy.  Granted 
that  such  realms  exist,  of  what  value  are  they  to 
man  unless  his  soul  be  able  to  enter  them  ?  A 
great  oratorio  has  no  special  delight  for  a  deaf 
man. 

The  question  of  salvation  is  not  so  much  as  to 
the  size  of  the  eternal  world  but  as  to  the  size 
and  character  of  the  soul.  Shall  a  man  be 
equipped  to  enter  the  utmost  of  the  highest,  or 
will  he  shut  himself  in  narrows  of  eternal  unrest 
and  remorse  ?  The  soul  determines  this,  and  its 
ability  to  invade  the  eternal  must  be  not  a  future 
hope,  but  a  present  acquisition. 

The  Relative  Value  of  the  Two  Worlds 

In  his  second  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  Paul 
says  :  u  The  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal, 
but  the  things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal.”  1 
There  he  names  the  two  worlds  of  which  man  is 
a  citizen,  and  declares  their  relative  value. 

The  things  acquired  by  the  senses  have  a  trans¬ 
itory  value.  This  is  not  saying  that  they  are 
without  value,  but  their  value  is  limited.  The 

1  2  Cor.  4  :  18. 


46 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


time-world  is  not  a  permanent  condition.  It  is 
only  an  incident  in  human  progress.  The  ground 
is  leased  and  the  tenure  is  up  at  death.  The  days 
of  the  years  of  our  pilgrimage  are  threescore 
years  and  ten.  The  generations  crowd  each  other- 
off  the  stage  of  time  in  swift  succession.  The 
sand  runs  out  in  the  hour  glass.  Time  is  only 
the  tick  of  the  second  hand  in  the  clock  of  the 
ages.  Some  morning  the  senses  will  fail  to  re¬ 
sume  business.  Every  door  will  be  locked,  every 
shutter  drawn.  Eye,  ear,  and  hand  will  fail  to 
respond.  There  will  no  longer  be  any  medium 
by  which  to  enter  tire  temporal.  An  invisible 
hand  has  written  u  finis”  across  another  human 
career,  and  people  say  ‘  ‘  the  man  is  dead. ?  ?  He 
has  not  ceased  to  be  ;  he  has  merely  finished  with 
time. 

The  ephemeral  value  of  the  temporal  is  seen  in 
the  decay  of  the  senses.  They  were  not  built  for 
a  long  tenure.  The  avenues  of  entrance  wear 
out.  The  senses  were  not  made  for  long  use. 
The  sight  grows  dim,  hearing  difficult,  the  hand 
trembles,  the  step  totters.  All  these  are  indica¬ 
tions  of  the  limit.  Nothing  of  this  appears  in 
the  soul.  Faith  does  not  grow  decrepit,  nor 
hope  infirm,  nor  love  cold  with  old  age.  The 
soul  warms  to  its  powers  as  it  advances.  It  has 
no  age  limit. 

The  same  lesson  is  read  in  the  short  value  of 
time  products.  Change  affects  them.  All  the 
institutions  of  time  lack  permanence.  The 
strongest  government  may  go  to  peices.  The 


A  CITIZEN  OF  TWO  WORLDS  47 


mightiest  monument  crumbles.  Human  great¬ 
ness,  so  far  as  it  registers  in  terms  of  the  time- 
world,  is  transitory.  Mutation  is  stamped  on  all 
that  is  material,  and  the  mournful  threnody  of 
the  sense- world  is  “The  things  which  are  seen 
are  temporal.77 

“The  things  which  are  not  seen  are  eternal.77 
The  values  acquired  by  the  soul  are  permanent. 
The  proof  of  this  is  not  less  convincing  than  that 
just  considered. 

Even  in  time,  the  highest  values  are  those 
which  the  soul  apprehends.  The  finest  thing  in 
a  picture  is  not  what  one  sees  wTith  his  eye,  but 
feels  with  his  soul.  It  is  not  the  canvas  and  col¬ 
our,  not  even  the  technique  and  conception,  but  a 
certain  undefined  and  intangible  something  that 
flies  all  time-limits  ;  a  flight  of  soul  rapture  and 
ecstasy  that  refuses  to  be  tethered  to  the  senses. 
The  picture  may  be  destroyed  but  what  the  soul 
has  felt  is  imperishable. 

Our  greatest  treasures  are  those  which  cannot 
be  handled  by  sense.  One  cannot  mete  out 
friendship  in  a  bushel  measure  nor  weigh  it  as 
so  much  avoirdupois.  It  is  not  possible  to  esti¬ 
mate  character  by  the  ounce  nor  to  discover 
thought  with  a  spectroscope.  Love  cannot  be 
treated  with  analyzing  fluids  and  truth  cannot  be 
tested  with  an  exhaust  pump. 

In  the  catalogue  of  eternal  values  are  some 
things  whose  present  reality  it  does  not  occur  to 
us  to  question,  but  whose  permanent  existence  is 
sometimes  doubted. 


48 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


One  of  these  is  conscious  personality.  A  man 
is  conscious  of  himself.  He  cannot  see  it,  nor 
weigh  it,  nor  measure  it,  but  he  cannot  doubt 
it.  It  belongs  to  the  things  which  are  not  seen. 
The  senses  have  nothing  to  do  with  making  me 
conscious  of  myself,  and  the  decay  of  the  senses 
or  death,  cannot  destroy  personality  and  make 
me  unconscious  of  myself. 

Consciousness  is  the  souks  recognition  of  its 
own  existence.  It  is  a  part  of  the  eternal  in 
man. 

Another  is  the  sense  of  moral  accountability. 
One  does  not  hear  or  smell  his  moral  account¬ 
ability,  he  feels  it.  It  is  a  feature  of  his  citizen¬ 
ship  in  an  endless  and  imperishable  world.  He 
may  cease  to  hear  and  smell  and  see  and  breathe, 
but  this  will  not  mean  that  he  has  ceased  to  feel 
his  moral  obligations.  They  are  soul  percep¬ 
tions  and  they  last  forever. 

Still  another  is  the  ability  to  suffer  or  be 
happy.  The  physical  element  in  pleasure  or 
pain  is  infinitesimal.  Away  beyond  it  are  the 
passions  of  the  soul,  often  so  strong  as  not  only 
to  eclipse  but  sometimes  to  discredit  the  physical. 
It  is  a  common  thing  for  the  soul  to  find  the 
keenest  happiness  in  a  course  that  involves  acute 
physical  suffering.  The  agony  of  the  flesh  may 
be  the  ecstasy  of  the  spirit ;  the  temptation  in  the 
wilderness  a  road  to  godhood.  These  and  other 
spiritual  experiences  in  time,  that  might  be 
mentioned,  are  so  many  declarations  not  only 
of  the  fact  that  man  is  a  citizen  of  eternity, 


A  CITIZEN  OF  TWO  WORLDS 


49 


but  of  the  high  and  holy  value  of  his  eternal 
franchise. 

Man’s  Relation  to  the  Two  Worlds 

The  business  of  life  is  the  problem  of  man’s 
relating  himself  aright  to  the  temporal  and  the 
eternal.  His  happiness  and  his  usefulness  de¬ 
pend  upon  getting  the  right  attitude  to  the 
visible  and  the  invisible.  Two  extremes  must 
be  avoided.  It  is  of  course  a  blunder  to  sacri¬ 
fice  eternity  to  time,  to  be  so  immersed  with  the 
temporal  as  to  be  oblivious  of  the  eternal,  so 
absorbed  with  the  senses  that  the  soul  has  no 
chance.  To  do  this  is  to  grow  gross  and  ma¬ 
terialistic.  It  is  to  blunder  like  the  rich  fool 
who  tried  to  house  his  little  soul  in  big  barns. 
It  is  to  make  the  mistake  of  Esau  who  bartered 
his  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage.  The 
sensualist  sells  out  for  a  small  price.  It  is  a 
blunder,  well  nigh  as  fatal,  to  sacrifice  time  for 
eternity,  to  be  so  enamoured  of  the  unseen  as  to 
despise  the  seen  5  to  be  so  spiritually  minded  as 
to  neglect  common  duties  and  disdain  the  pres¬ 
ent  world ;  to  be  so  taken  up  with  trying  to  be 
an  angel  as  to  fail  to  be  a  man. 

This  is  a  good  world  and  God  doubtless  expects 
man  to  appreciate  it.  His  senses  put  him  in 
communication  with  it  not  that  the  world  may 
torture  him,  but  that  he  may  enjoy  it. 

There  is  nothing  to  be  desired  in  that  canting, 
sallow,  sepulchral  piety  that  makes  happiness  a 
future  dream  and  God  a  post-mortem  asset ;  and 


50 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


whose  hymnology  and  prayers  are  a  preparation 
for  dying.  The  saint  who  sings  ‘  ‘  I  want  to  be 
an  angel/7  would  probably  be  disappointed  were 
God  to  take  him  at  his  word.  He  would  ask  for 
a  continuance  of  his  case  and  a  little  more  time 
in  the  flesh. 

This  is  the  best  world  of  its  kind,  that  even 
God  could  make.  When  He  finished  creation, 
heaven7 s  verdict  was  “It  is  good.77  It  is  not  a 
world  to  be  sacrificed,  discredited,  despised.  It 
is  to  be  used,  and  he  is  in  the  business  of  life  to 
some  purpose  who  makes  the  most  of  his  citizen¬ 
ship  in  time.  In  order  to  do  this,  he  must  re¬ 
member  that  eternity  is  more  valuable  than  time. 
It  is  one  thing  to  sacrifice  the  temporal  to  the 
eternal,  but  it  is  another  and  a  very  different 
thing  to  sway  the  temporal  with  the  eternal. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  being  in  the  world 
without  allowing  the  world  to  be  in  us  ;  or  to 
use  an  inspired  phrase  “  to  be  in  the  world,  but 
not  of  it.77 

The  eternal  in  man  must  be  allowed  to  control 
his  existence  in  time.  “Our  citizenship  is  in 
heaven.77  This  is  just  a  way  of  saying  that  the 
duties  of  an  earthly  citizenship  must  be  dis¬ 
charged  in  harmony  with  heavenly  principles 
and  aspirations.  One  should  bring  to  the  duties 
of  the  temporal  the  motives  of  the  eternal.  It 
is  the  man  whose  faith  taps  the  dynamos  of 
omnipotence  and  whose  soul  tastes  the  powers 
of  the  world  to  come  who  makes  “this  life  worth 
while  and  heaven  a  surer  heritage.77 


A  CITIZEN  OF  TWO  WORLDS 


51 


His  “ solitary  way7’  is  lit  up  with  a  glory 
“the  last  steps  of  day77  cannot  reach  nor  its 
“far  rosy  depths77  penetrate.  “For  we  know 
that  if  the  earthly  house  of  our  tabernacle  be  dis¬ 
solved  we  have  a  building  from  God,  a  house  not 
made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.77  1 

1 2  Cor.  5  :  1. 


RACE-SIN 


u  Man  is  the  only  creature  sublime  enough  to  sin.”  —* 
j Dr.  Charles  H.  Parkhurst. 

‘  ‘  I  can  only  hope  for  forgiveness  in  a  confidence  upon  the 
blood  of  Christ.  As  a  statesman,  I  am  not  sufficiently  dis¬ 
interested  ;  in  my  own  mind,  I  am  rather  cowardly  ;  because 
it  is  not  easy  always  to  get  that  clearness  on  the  questions 
coming  before  me,  which  grows  upon  the  soil  of  divine  confi¬ 
dence.  .  .  . 

'‘Among  the  multitude  of  sinners  who  are  in  need  of  the 
mercy  of  God,  I  hope  that  His  grace  will  not  deprive  me  of 
the  staff  of  humble  faith  in  the  midst  of  the  dangers  and 
doubts  of  my  calling.” — Bismarck. 

1  L  Original  sin  ”  is  a  theological  phrase.  Per¬ 
haps  a  better  name  is  “race-sin.”  One  does  not 
need  to  follow  human  nature  very  far  to  discover 
sin’s  existence.  A  superficial  diagnosis  regards 
it  as  the  decay  and  death  of  man’s  eternal  parts. 
It  is,  however,  not  so  much  the  destruction  as  the 
disease  of  the  eternal  in  man. 

Sin  is  the  characteristic  of  a  being  with  an  eter¬ 
nal  outlook.  Protoplasm  and  blood-cells  cannot 
sin.  The  ability  to  sin  is  one  of  man’s  immortal 
features,  and  the  fact  of  race-sin  or  original  sin, 
discredits  the  theory  that  man’s  immortality  is 
something  to  be  won  by  an  evolutionary  process. 
Plis  sin  is  merely  a  blunder  unless  he  possess  infi¬ 
nite  relations.  Every  man  sins,  and  every  man 

52 


RACE-SIX 


53 


is  sinful  by  practice  because  he  is  first  sinful  by 
nature. 

The  author  of  the  fifty -first  Psalm  exclaims, 
u  Behold  I  was  brought  forth  in  iniquity  j  and  in 
sin  did  my  mother  conceive  me.”  1 

It  is  a  prodigal’s  prayer.  The  xuodigal  is  a 
people’s  king.  David  had  sinned  grievously. 
He  was  guilty  of  as  foul  and  loathsome  an  offense 
as  ever  stains  the  record  of  a  human  life.  How 
could  he  get  his  consent  to  an  act  of  such  infamy  ? 
He  was  the  ruler  of  his  nation.  He  was  himself 
a  husband,  a  father,  a  friend,  a  neighbour.  The 
integrity  of  his  throne,  the  sanctity  of  his  home, 
the  purity  of  his  character,  the  worth  of  his  in¬ 
fluence,  the  happiness  of  others  and  his  own 
happiness  for  time  and  eternity  were  at  stake. 
Every  consideration  that  should  stir  one  to  better 
things,  tried  to  block  his  way  and  prevent  his 
sin.  With  so  much  at  stake,  how  could  David 
get  his  own  consent  to  go  wrong  ? 

It  is  an  old  story.  How  can  any  one  gain  his 
consent  to  commit  sin  ?  How  could  that  husband 
who  murdered  his  young  wife,  get  his  consent  to 
do  it?  How  could  those  assassins  that  slipped 
into  a  farmhouse  in  Xew  York  State  and  killed  a 
defenseless  girl  and  tried  to  kill  her  mother,  and 
murdered  two  helpless  old  men,  have  it  in  their 
hearts  to  do  so  brutal  a  crime?  How  can  the 
thief  bring  himself  to  the  point  of  robbing  his 
neighbour  ?  flow  is  it  possible  for  the  prodigal 
to  be  willing  to  slay  the  life  of  his  own  soul  ? 

‘Ps.  51 :  5. 


54 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


The  criminal  was  not  always  such.  The  most 
hardened  offender  was  once  an  innocent  babe 
cradled  in  the  arms  of  a  mother7  s  care  and  hushed 
to  sleep  with  the  lullabies  of  love  and  hope. 
The  face  seamed  with  passion  and  scarred  with 
crime  was  once  fair  with  the  innocence  that  leads 
Christ  to  say,  i  i  Of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 7  7 

Why  could  not  the  child  retain  its  innocence  ? 
Why  must  the  heart  ever  be  defiled  ? 

Is  sin  accidental  ?  Is  it  merely  an  indiscre¬ 
tion  ?  Are  we  to  conclude  that  the  evil  is 
mightier  than  the  good?  Is  it  because  God  is 
a  failure  and  holiness  a  vain  dream  ?  What 
is  the  explanation  of  sin? 

David  gives  his  explanation,  “Behold  I  was 
shapen  in  iniquity ;  and  in  sin  did  my  mother 
conceive  me.77  He  affirms  that  he  was  born  with 
a  sinful  nature.  The  tendency  to  sin,  he  in¬ 
herited  from  the  mother  who  bore  him.  It  came 
to  him  by  ordinary  generation.  He  was  not  born 
good,  but  bad,  with  a  love  for  sin  rioting  in  his 
blood,  and  this  inherited  evil  nature  was  the 
source  of  his  sins. 

Is  David’s  explanation  correct,  or  is  he  slan¬ 
dering  his  mother?  Is  there  anything  in  this 
theory  of  an  inherited  sinful  nature  or  is  it  the 
cowardly  shifting  of  responsibility  and  the  shame¬ 
less  defaming  of  one’s  forbears  ?  Was  the  king’s 
sin  accidental  or  was  it  the  result  of  an  adequate 
cause  ? 

There  are  no  accidents.  David  sinned  because 
of  what  he  was.  There  was  a  law  in  his  mem- 


RACE-SIN 


55 


bers  commanding  him  to  sate  his  Inst.  He  in¬ 
herited  it  himself,  and  he  handed  it  down  to  his 
children,  notably  to  Absalom  and  Solomon.  In 
theology,  David’s  explanation  is  called  “  Origi¬ 
nal  Sin,”  in  science  they  prefer  to  sxieak  of  it  as 
1 1  Heredity.  ’  ’ 

The  Scriptures  teach  the  doctrine  of  race-sin, 
not  once  or  twice,  but  rex>eatedly ;  not  merely 
in  explicit  statements,  but  in  the  entire  related 
scheme  and  system  of  the  doctrines  of  saving 
grace. 

“  As  in  Adam  all  die.  .  .  .”  1 

“They  are  all  gone  aside,  they  are  together 
become  filthy  ;  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no, 
not  one.”  2 

i  ‘  The  mind  of  the  flesh  is  enmity  against  God, 
for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law  of  God,  neither 
indeed  can  be.”  3 

“To  me  who  would  do  good,  evil  is  present.”  4 

1 1 1  see  a  different  law  in  my  members,  warring 
against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  bringing  me 
into  captivity  under  the  law  of  sin  which  is  in 
my  members.”  5 

It  is  difficult  to  see  how  David’s  explanation 
of  the  motive  to  sin  can  be  set  aside  without  in¬ 
validating  the  entire  teaching  of  Sacred  Scripture. 

Is  the  Bible  correct  in  its  position  ?  W as  David 
fool  or  knave  when  he  diagnosed  sin,  or  was  he 
a  profound  philosopher  ?  Is  racial -sin  a  fact  or 
merely  an  effort  to  shift  resxionsibility  ? 

1 1  Cor.  15  :  22.  2  Ps.  14  :  3. 

3  Rom.  8;  7.  4  Rom.  7:21.  5  Rom.  7  :  22, 


56 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Its  Unpopularity 

A  strong  prejudice  lodges  against  the  dogma. 
We  do  not  like  its  face.  It  is  homely  and  unat¬ 
tractive.  It  is  nothing  to  be  proud  of.  It  lends 
no  help  in  the  effort  to  deify  human  nature.  It 
sounds  bad. 

It  is  the  fashion  to  ridicule  it,  and  class  those 
who  profess  to  believe  it  with  the  hopelessly  non- 
progressives. 

A  gay  pulpiteer,  in  his  effort  to  ridicule  the 
doctrine,  mirthfully  depicts  the  sorrow  of  a  gloomy 
devotee,  who  mournfully  recites  the  decay  of  re¬ 
ligion  by  saying:  “They  have  taken  away  our 
eternal  punishment  and  they  threaten  to  take 
away  our  original  sin,  and  directly  nothing  will 
be  left  for  our  souls  to  feed  upon.” 

That  sounds  funny  ;  but,  when  one  reflects,  it 
is  neither  funny  nor  clever.  There  is  a  coterie 
of  rose  water  poets  and  novelists  who  dip  their 
pens  in  mist  and  write  nonsense.  Their  mission 
in  life  is  to  make  virtue  as  homely  and  vice  as 
attractive  as  possible.  They  are  dead  set  against 
original  sin.  They  regard  the  sinner  as  an  acci¬ 
dent  and  the  criminal  as  a  victim. 

Their  esthetic  temperaments  affect  a  severe 
shock  when  confronted  with  the  conditions  of  so 
horrible  a  dogma  as  inherited  depravity  or  race- 
sin.  They  are  the  apostles  of  the  fog  and  their 
creed  is  to  believe  nothing  that  fails  to  please. 

What  is  to  be  said  of  all  this  %  Are  we  to  make 
a  new  creed  that  leaves  out  original  sin  ?  Paul 
preached  original  sin.  Was  Paul  wrong  ?  Am 


RACE-SIX 


57 


gustine  preached  original  sin.  Was  Augustine 
mistaken  !  John  Calvin  and  John  Knox  preached 
original  sin.  Were  their  intellects  infirm  ! 

Is  the  Bible  wrong  on  this  subject!  If  so,  can 
one  be  sure  that  it  is  right  on  any  subject  !  If  it 
be  astray  from  the  facts  in  what  it  says  about  the 
origin  of  sin,  may  it  not  be  as  far  afield  from 
truth  in  its  teachings  about  pardon,  salvation, 
hope  and  heaven  ! 


The  Meaning  of  the  Doctrine 

One  need  not  be  frightened  by  a  name.  What 
is  meant  by  race-sin ! 

It  does  not  mean  that  when  God  made  man,  He 
preferred  to  make  him  a  sinner  rather  than  a 
saint.  It  does  not  mean  that  when  God  made  the 
human  race,  He  made  a  failure.  It  does  not 
mean  that  God  prefers  sin  to  holiness,  nor  that 
He  would  rather  condemn  than  redeem. 

God  hates  sin.  The  fact  that  He  does  consti¬ 
tutes  man’s  eternal  hope.  God  made  man  holy. 
Why  sin  was  permitted  to  enter  the  world  is  the 
great  mystery  for  which  we  have  no  explanation. 
While  we  cannot  explain  why  it  was  allowed  to 
enter,  we  know  when  it  entered  and  through 
whom.  A  human  hand  opened  the  door,  a  hu¬ 
man  voice  said  “Come  in,”  and  a  human  heart 
gave  sin  its  first  abode  in  the  world. 

The  flippant  agnostic  who  says:  “Were  I 
God,  I  should  have  made  goodness  catching  rather 
than  sin,”  is  exploding  an  empty  shell.  God  did 
make  goodness  catching,  but  man  let  sin  enter 


58 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


and  in  doing  so  must  bear  tlie  burden  of  respon¬ 
sibility  for  sin’s  contagion. 

Neither  does  original  or  race-sin  mean  that  any 
one  will  be  punished  hereafter  for  another’s  sins. 
Each  soul  must  answer  for  itself.  When  one 
stands  before  the  Judge  at  the  bar  of  final  ac¬ 
count,  he  will  not  be  examined  as  to  the  sins  of 
his  ancestors.  Each  life  must  render  account  of 
itself  to  God. 

Neither  does  it  mean  that  all  men  are  equally 
bad,  nor  that  any  one  is  as  bad  as  he  might  be, 
nor  that  any  one  is  ever  so  bad  as  to  have  no 
good.  In  the  breast  of  the  worst,  there  lingers 
that  divine  propulsion  God  gave  man  when  He 
made  him  His  own  image.  On  the  face  most 
marred  by  sin  there  lingers  the  tracery  of  angel’s 
fingers. 

A  river  thief,  innocent  of  the  crime  charged, 
deliberately  confessed  and  went  to  jail  in  place 
of  a  guilty  comrade,  because,  he  said,  his  com¬ 
rade  had  a  wife  and  children  who  would  suffer  if 
he  were  imprisoned,  and  he  himself  had  none. 

Daily  such  white  spots  shine  out  on  the  black¬ 
est  record  and  say  : 

“There  is  so  much  good  in  the  worst  of  us, 

And  so  much  bad  in  the  best  of  us, 

That  it  ill  becomes  any  of  us 
To  find  fault  with  the  rest  of  us.  ’  ’ 

Original  sin  simply  means  that  man  is  born 
with  a  sinful  nature  which  inclines  him  certainly 
to  evil  rather  than  to  good.  Sin  is  neither  an  in 


RACE  SIN 


59 


discretion  nor  an  accident.  It  is  a  result,  the 
product  of  adequate  causes.  In  the  central  soul 
there  is  a  disposition  to  transgress.  Man7  s  nature 
is  utterly  and  wholly  averse  to  God7s  will.  It  is 
spiritually  dead.  This  evil  nature  is  the  source 
of  actual  transgressions.  Circumstances  affect, 
but  do  not  compel  sins.  Sometimes  the  sinner 
makes  his  opportunity  to  do  wrong. 

Original  sin  does  not  mean  that  there  is  to-day 
anything  original  in  sin.  What  was  sin  six 
thousand  years  ago  is  not  righteousness  now. 
The  moral  law  has  not  been  revised.  What  was 
crime  has  not  become  virtue.  What  was  wrong 
in  Adam  is  not  right  in  his  descendants.  No 
process  of  evolution  will  ever  unmake  a  moral 
distinction. 

Original  sin  means  that  the  same  sinful  nature 
is  inherited  by  all  regardless  of  position,  culture, 
nationality  or  earthly  condition.  There  is  no 
one  naturally  good.  The  evil  may  not  have  de¬ 
veloped,  but  its  germ  lies  hidden,  and  there  needs 
but  a  sufficient  provocation  to  rouse  the  beast  of 
carnality.  One  of  the  most  gracious  and  gifted 
of  Christian  women  in  describing  the  baleful  in¬ 
fluence  over  her  of  a  teacher  in  childhood,  said 
that  all  her  evil  nature  was  aroused  and  she  found 
herself  cherishing  feelings  of  which  she  did  not 
dream  she  was  capable. 

People  differ  in  temperament,  some  are  gentle 
and  some  turbulent ;  in  culture,  some  are  refined 
and  some  coarse ;  in  position,  some  are  on  the 
avenue  and  some  in  the  slum  ;  in  conditions,  some 


60 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


have  everything  and  some  nothing ;  blit  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  original  sin  holds  that  however  great 
these  differences,  if  one  go  deep  enough  he  will 
come  to  identically  the  same  fallen  nature  in  every 
human  life. 

The  Proof  of  the  Doctrine 

For  all  who  regard  the  Bible  as  of  infallible 
authority  in  matters  of  faith  and  doctrine,  its 
teachings  should  be  proof  enough  of  the  truth  of 
this  statement.  The  Bible  treats  a  disease  called 
1  4  sin.  ’ ’  It  proposes  to  cure  sin.  The  only  trouble 
it  finds  with  man  is  that  he  is  a  sinner  ;  and  it 
offers  a  gospel  that  saves  from  sin  by  giving  the 
sinner  a  new  nature.  In  all  its  treatment  of  sin 
and  in  all  the  pro vision  it  makes  for  the  cure  of 
sin,  the  Bible  implicitly  and  explicitly  assumes 
the  fact  of  man’s  fallen  and  sinful  nature. 

No  other  explanation  is  adequate.  If  man  be 
not  born  with  a  tendency  to  sin,  why  should  he 
do  wrong  ?  To  say  it  is  the  result  of  example  is 
to  run  into  a  blind  alley.  Where  did  the  original 
sinner  get  his  example,  and  how  does  it  come 
about  that  every  member  of  the  human  family 
has  followed  the  same  example  ?  If  it  were  a  case 
of  example,  one  would  think  that  individualism 
would  assert  itself  and  produce  variety.  But  the 
record  of  sin  is  deadly  monotonous  from  Adam 
down.  The  only  sufficient  explanation  is  that 
deep  down  behind  all  conduct  is  the  play  of  a 
steady,  always  present  force  disposing  to  evil. 


RACE-SIN 


61 


Tlie  cashier  of  a  bank  in  the  state  of  New  York 
used  the  bank’s  money  for  himself.  He  was  de¬ 
tected,  tried  and  sent  to  prison  for  a  long  term. 
He  had  one  child,  a  lovely  little  daughter,  whom 
he  idolized.  A  few  days  after  the  trial  she  came 
home  sobbing,  and  said:  “Oh,  mother,  I  am 
never,  never  going  back  to  that  school.  Send  for 
my  books.  One  of  the  girls  said  my  father  was 
a  thief.”  The  doctor  came,  but  he  said  he  could 
not  mend  a  child’s  broken  heart.  The  little 
daughter  faded  like  a  frail  flower,  pining  away, 
and  begging  for  her  father.  Through  powerful 
influence  he  was  allowed  to  come,  attended  by 
the  warden,  to  see  his  dying  child.  She  looked 
up  with  a  smile  on  her  wan  face  and  said  : 
“Father,  I  knew  you  would  come.  Now  lay 
down  your  head  beside  mine  on  the  pillow  as  you 
used  to  do.” 

That  man  loved  his  child  better  than  his  life, 
but  he  committed  a  crime  whose  shame  killed  her. 
He  knew  when  he  became  a  thief  that  he  was  tak¬ 
ing  the  life  of  his  home  as  well  as  of  his  own 
character,  and  yet  he  ran  the  risk.  He  rode  down 
all  the  angels  of  love  and  hope  that  tried  to  block 
his  way.  Why  !  The  philosopher  who  tries  to 
explain  that  without  a  fallen  nature  prompting  to 
sin  will  stop  short  of  an  explanation  that  ex¬ 
plains. 

“Heredity”  is  only  an  exaggerated  symptom 
of  original  sin,  but  it  proves  the  doctrine.  If  a 
parent  can  and  does  transmit  to  his  offspring cer- 


62 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


tain  physical  and  mental  traits,  why  may  not  a 
disposition  to  sin  be  transmitted  from  sire  to  son  ? 
Such  a  case  as  that  of  4  4  Margaret  the  Criminal ’  1 
with  her  numerous  and  notorious  progeny  of 
criminals  is  a  striking  commentary  on  the  prodi¬ 
gal’ s  prayer  when  he  says:  u  Behold,  I  was 
shapen  in  iniquity  $  and  in  sin  did  my  mother  con¬ 
ceive  me.” 

The  universal  fact  of  suffering  proves  the  fact 
of  race-sin.  The  penalty  has  passed  upon  all 
men.  Part  of  the  penalty  is  death,  and  death  is 
universal.  If  sin  be  not  a  heritage,  why  should 
its  penalty  be  inherited?  44  Death  has  passed 
upon  all  men,  for  that  all  have  sinned.” 

Indeed,  one  need  not  go  beyond  his  own  ex¬ 
perience  for  the  evidence.  Conscience  is  a  wit¬ 
ness.  Not  a  man,  woman,  nor  child  but  trans¬ 
gresses.  It  is  easy  to  do  wrong.  One  must  strug¬ 
gle  to  do  right.  Why  ?  Because  there  is  a  law 
in  his  members  warring  against  the  law  in  his 
mind. 

Every  police  court  preaches  the  doctrine  of 
original  sin.  Go  there,  if  you  will,  and  look  into 
those  sodden  faces.  Hear  the  story  of  their  re¬ 
volting  crimes.  Gaze  upon  the  rags  and  wretched¬ 
ness  of  pauperism.  Consider  how  the  black 
stream  of  vice  rolls  on  from  generation  to  gener¬ 
ation.  Why  are  these  people  not  warned  by  ex¬ 
perience  ?  Why  are  sins  as  dark  and  infamous  as 
those  of  six  thousand  years  ago  still  committed  ? 
It  is  because  human  nature  is  the  same.  Sin  is  in 
the  blood.  It  is  the  awful  nightmare  of  the  race. 


RACE-SIN 


63 


The  Problem  of  Religion 

Human  nature  is  what  it  was  and  religion  faces 
the  same  problem  now  that  it  did  the  day  Adam 
fell. 

The  world  is  growing  better.  There  is  more 
goodness  in  the  world  and  it  is  of  a  finer  kind. 
There  is  a  better  vision  of  God  and  man  and 
duty.  There  is  a  saner  interpretation  of  life. 
There  is  more  unselfishness,  more  sacrifice,  more 
brotherliness,  more  love,  for  there  are  more  who 
have  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  doctrine  of 
original  sin  is  not  the  doctrine  of  pessimism. 
The  world  is  improving. 

Yet  when  one  comes  to  the  individual  life, 
human  nature  is  the  same.  God  must  begin  with 
the  sinner  to-day,  just  where  He  began  with 
David.  In  this  fair  age  there  are  crimes  as  hor¬ 
rible,  dishonesties  as  colossal,  lusts  as  devilish,  as 
when  a  fallen  king  said  :  u  In  sin  did  my  mother 
conceive  me.”  There  are  murderers  as  red- 
handed  as  Caiu,  traitors  as  black-hearted  as  Judas, 
liars  as  infamous  as  Ananias,  adulterers  as  lecher¬ 
ous  as  Lot,  covetousness  as  sordid  as  Ahab’s. 

It  takes  as  much  of  omnipotence  to  make  a  bad 
man  good  as  ever.  It  takes  as  mighty  a  Saviour 
for  the  modern  as  for  the  ancient  sinner. 

If  so  there  is  no  need  of  a  new  religion.  The 
grace  that  saved  David,  suffices.  The  gospel  that 
redeemed  the  thief  on  the  cross  and  transformed 
a  runaway  slave,  is  the  only  gospel  needed. 
One  must  get  back  to  Calvary  and  gain  the  merits 
of  the  cross.  The  Jesus  who  saved  Matthew  from 


64 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


covetousness  and  Peter  from  instability  and  Paul 
from  bigotry  is  the  Saviour  human  nature  needs 
to-day.  If  original  sin  be  a  fact,  what  the  sinner 
needs  is  a  new  nature.  It  is  folly  to  think  that 
any  mere  man  can  absolve  him ;  that  human  merit 
or  good  works  or  the  ritual  will  bring  exemption. 
He  must  be  born  again.  His  nature  must  be 
changed.  The  eternal  in  man  must  be  cured. 

There  is  an  old  legend  of  a  crab-tree  that  said 
one  day  to  a  cherry-tree,  its  nearest  neighbour : 
“  I  shall  grow  cherries  next  season.77  The 
cherry-tree  laughed  and  replied  :  “When  was  it 
ever  known  in  the  history  of  trees  that  a  crab 
bore  cherries?77  But  the  crab- tree  said:  “I 
have  determined  to  bear  cherries,  and  you  shall 
see.77  Spring  came  on  and  the  crab-tree  had 
many  blossoms,  but  they  were  not  cherry  blossoms. 
By  and  by  the  blossoms  became  fruit,  but  it  was 
not  cherries,  for  the  tree  was  not  a  cherry-tree 
but  a  crab -tree.  And  it  is  not  in  the  nature  of  a 
crab-tree  to  bear  cherries,  even  when  it  says  it  will. 

Human  nature  must  have  more  than  a  great 
determination  if  it  is  to  change  its  conduct.  The 
nature  must  be  changed.  To  David7 s  explana¬ 
tion  of  sin,  we  must  add  his  remedy  :  ‘  *  Create 

in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God  ;  and  renew  a  right 
spirit  within  me. 7  7 

It  takes  Almighty  God  to  grapple  with  the 
problem  of  sin  :  L  L  Born,  not  of  blood,  nor  of  the 
will  of  the  flesh,  nor  of  the  will  of  man,  but  of 
God.77 1 


1  John  1  °.  13, 


RACE-SIN 


05 


It  is  not  enough  to  plant  a  Social  Settlement  in 
a  slum  and  send  some  of  the  u  privileged  class” 
to  dwell  there.  Sin  is  not  cured  by  scenery  any 
more  than  is  smallpox.  The  cross  of  Jesus  must 
be  planted  in  the  slum,  and  the  radiant  presence 
and  saving  power  of  the  matchless  Christ,  in 
whose  person  dwells  all  the  fullness  of  the  God¬ 
head,  and  through  whom  the  Great  Father  seeks 
ITis  wayward  children,  must  come  with  a  Gos£>el 
that  imparts  life  and  says  to  them  who  are  dead 
in  trespasses  and  sins  :  u  Though  your  sins  be  as 
scarlet,  they  shall  be  as  white  as  snow  j  though 
they  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as  wool.”  1 
Sin  can  be  cured  by  but  one  physician.  He  is 
no  general  practitioner,  but  the  great  specialist 
who  cures  sin,  and  who  alone  is  able  to  prescribe 
for  and  treat  the  eternal  in  man. 


*Isa,  1:18. 


VI 


THE  ATROPHY  OF  A  SOUL 

“  Alas  !  the  voice  returned,  ’tis  thou  art  blind, 

Not  I  unmerciful :  I  can  forgive 

But  have  no  skill  to  heal  thy  spirit’s  eyes  ; 

Only  the  soul  hath  power  o’er  itself, 

With  that  again  there  murmured  ‘Nevermore  !  ’  ” 

— James  B.  Lowell. 

The  eternal  in  man  may  suffer  atrophy.  Be¬ 
cause  man  comes  into  being  with  immortal  parts, 
it  does  not  follow  that  these  without  proper  care 
and  use  will  maintain  all  their  functions  unim¬ 
paired. 

There  is  such  a  thing  as  the  atrophy  of  a  soul. 
It  is  perhaps  as  great  a  calamity  as  that  produced 
by  sin.  Both  are  spiritual  diseases.  Sin  pro¬ 
duces  deformity  ;  atrophy  causes  the  cessation  of 
spiritual  functions. 

The  atrophy  of  the  physical  is  familiar  enough  ; 
— an  arm  hangs  limp  and  helpless  at  the  side,  a 
withered  leg  is  dragged  as  so  much  dead  weight 
tied  to  the  living  body.  Some  physical  function 
has  suffered  atrophy  and  as  a  result,  there  has 
been  the  breaking  down  of  virility  and  the  easy 
victory  of  disease  over  the  body. 

There  is,  however,  a  far  more  calamitous 
atrophy  than  this  which  wastes  the  tissues,  with- 

66 


THE  ATROPHY  OF  A  SOUL 


67 


ers  the  muscles,  paralyzes  the  nerve  functions 
and  creeps  like  the  palsy  of  death  through  the 
living  body.  Worse  than  atrophy  of  limb  or 
brain  or  heart  is  the  atrophy  of  soul. 

It  is  possible  by  the  misuse  or  disuse  of  spirit¬ 
ual  powers,  not  to  destroy  the  eternal,  but  to  put 
it  out  of  action.  It  is  possible  to  stand  amid  the 
glorious  revelations  of  duty,  privilege  and  grace ; 
and  regard  existence  as  a  long,  unbroken  night. 
The  eye  of  the  soul  has  gone  blind  through  dis¬ 
use.  God  calls,  but  the  soul  fails  to  respond. 

He  discloses,  but  there  is  no  vision.  He  moves 
with  the  ministries  of  the  infinite,  but  there  is 
no  impression.  The  trouble  is  not  that  there  is 
no  soul.  The  soul  exists,  but  the  spiritual  facul¬ 
ties  are  shrivelled.  The  eternal  is  as  irrespon¬ 
sive  as  dough,  as  impassive  as  clay. 

In  such  a  condition  it  is  an  easy  thing  to  deny 
God’s  existence  and  be  sincere  in  the  denial ;  to 
scoff  at  religion  and  ridicule  faith  as  credulity 
and  worship  as  a  form  of  insanity.  Indeed  a 
soul  suffering  from  atrophy  may  honestly  doubt 
its  own  existence.  The  organ  of  religious  knowl¬ 
edge  is  gone.  As  easy  for  one  to  see  whose  eyes 
have  been  plucked  out,  or  to  hear  whose  ears 
have  been  poured  full  of  molten  lead,  as  for  an 
atrophied  soul  to  apprehend  the  eternal. 

One  may  so  neglect  his  soul  that  his  spiritual 
powers  will  wither.  He  may  so  resist  and  dis¬ 
credit  and  deny  the  longings  of  his  higher  nature, 
and  surrender  to  carnal  and  sensual  appetites, 
that  the  call  of  the  infinite  will  fall  upon  him 


68 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


like  the  kiss  of  the  living  on  the  lips  of  the 
dead. 


The  Signs  of  Spiritual  Atrophy 

The  evidence  of  atrophy  in  the  soul  is  not  far 
to  seek.  It  is  seen  in  a  life  whose  pleasures  are 
sought  outside  the  soul.  The  man  leads  an  ani¬ 
mal  existence.  His  joys  are  animal,  his  delights 
are  animal,  his  ambitions  are  animal.  He  locates 
heaven  in  the  sensory  nerves.  To  him  any  other 
kind  of  heaven  is  an  insoluble  riddle.  To  sug¬ 
gest  to  him  the  joys  of  communion  with  the 
Eternal  is  like  offering  Emerson’s  essays  to  a 
kitten  or  entertaining  a  pup  with  a  picture  gal¬ 
lery.  Religion  is  a  dead  language  to  him,  not 
because  religion  is  dead,  but  because  his  religious 
organs  are  suffering  atrophy. 

The  same  condition  manifests  itself  in  a  con¬ 
tempt  of  God’s  providential  dealings  and  the 
absence  of  any  serious  reflection  in  the  presence  of 
sudden  and  startling  catastrophes. 

A  normal  soul  does  not  mock  at  disaster  nor 
defy  calamity.  Earthquake,  pestilence,  famine, 
and  other  catastrophes  in  which  the  helplessness 
and  despair  of  the  temporal  appear,  instead  of 
leading  a  normal  soul  to  scoff,  drive  it  to  the 
eternal  that  it  may  find  there  the  sense  of  perma¬ 
nence  and  security  which  the  eternal  in  man 
craves  and  without  which  peace  is  impossible. 

To  make  a  farce  of  providence ;  to  ridicule 
serious  reflections ;  to  treat  the  universe  with  a 
chemical  formula  and  a  glass  retort ;  and  to  con- 


THE  ATROPHY  OF  A  SOUL 


09 


elude  that  by  this  process  the  Supernatural  is 
eliminated,  may  seem  clever.  It  is,  however,  a 
cleverness  that  is  dropsical.  Its  swollen  conceit 
is  the  symptom  of  a  diseased  soul. 

To  treat  the  moral  government  of  the  universe 
with  supercilious  contempt  is  merely  to  betray  a 
withered  and  atrophied  spiritual  function.  God 
is  where  He  was.  Man  has  analyzed  the  sun¬ 
beam,  but  he  has  not  dispensed  with  the  sun. 
The  same  old  sun  is  still  doing  business.  He  has 
made  a  chart  of  the  ocean’s  currents,  but  the 
same  mighty  deep  rolls  between  the  continents. 
He  has  measured  the  stars,  but  he  has  not  plucked 
them  from  their  sockets  in  the  sky.  He  has 
given  names  to  the  laws  of  nature,  but  he  has  not 
eliminated  the  God  of  nature  ;  and  he  who  does 
not  apprehend  Him  is  spiritually  blind. 

From  his  shallow  and  superficial  and  imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  world,  which  manifests  God, 
and  in  which  and  behind  which,  though  unseen, 
God  works,  to  jump  to  the  conclusion  that  God 
is  not  or  at  least  is  no  more  than  His  product,  is 
for  man  to  show  that  his  eternal  perceptions  have 
gone  stone  blind. 

Religious  indifference  and  unconcern  are  further 
symptoms  of  the  same  disease.  There  are  those 
on  whom  the  truths  of  religion  apparently  make 
no  impression.  An  appeal  that  has  in  it  the  very 
eloquence  of  heaven  elicits  no  response.  Motives 
that  beat  with  the  pulses  of  Calvary  fail  to  stir. 
Calls  that  are  musical  with  the  harmonies  of 
heaven  meet  with  stolid  unconcern. 


70 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


A  friend  of  the  writer  once  visited  a  dying 
man  who  realized  that  his  end  was  near  and  who 
desired  to  lay  hold  of  some  immortal  hope  before 
surrendering  to  dissolution.  The  story  of  Cal¬ 
vary  was  set  before  him  in  earnestness  and  sim¬ 
plicity,  the  gospel  invitation  was  extended,  the 
precious  promises  and  the  glorious  possibilities 
of  the  Christian’ s  hope  were  set  before  him.  His 
only  response  was  to  turn  wearily  away  from  it 
to  die,  saying  :  UI  cannot  understand  anything 
you  say.  It  is  a  hopeless  riddle.”  By  a  life¬ 
long  disuse  anti  neglect  of  his  spiritual  functions, 
his  soul  had  suffered  atrophy,  and  he  had  lost 
even  the  power  to  grasp  a  spiritual  idea. 

A  fourth  sign  is  the  doubt  and  denial  of  spirit¬ 
ual  realities. 

How  is  it  possible  to  deny  the  character  or  ex¬ 
istence  of  God,  when  the  proof  is  so  abundant 
and  convincing  ?  Man  need  not  take  a  step  out¬ 
side  of  himself  to  find  a  sufficient  argument  to 
convince  him  of  the  existence  of  the  eternal.  In 
addition  to  himself,  there  is  a  world  packed  with 
irrefutable  testimonies,  and  a  Book  eloquent  with 
infallible  proofs. 

The  only  adequate  explanation  of  the  doubt 
and  denial  of  God  is  the  atrophy  of  those  facul¬ 
ties  by  which  God  is  apprehended.  When  the 
wire  that  ties  an  arc  light  to  the  dynamo  loses 
its  connection,  the  light  goes  out.  The  wire  has 
not  ceased  to  exist.  It  is  still  there  as  long,  as 
thick,  and  as  heavy  as  it  was.  It  has  merely 
suffered  atrophy  and  ceased  to  perform  its  func- 


THE  ATEOPHY  OF  A  SOUL 


71 


tions  as  a  light  bearer.  Spiritual  darkness  or 
doubt  is  explainable  in  the  same  way.  Man  has 
not  ceased  to  be  an  immortal  being.  The  soul 
still  exists,  but  it  has  ceased  to  perform  its  func¬ 
tions  as  a  light- bearer. 

The  Disaster  of  the  Disease 

The  soul  is  the  man.  After  all  discussions  of 
the  subject,  we  must  come  back  to  the  convic¬ 
tion  that  we  are  not  our  hands,  nor  our  feet,  nor 
our  eyes,  nor  our  tissues,  nor  our  nerve  cells. 
Man  has  a  body.  He  is  a  soul.  It  is  in  the  soul 
that  the  measures  of  manhood  reside.  Courage, 
fortitude,  patriotism,  devotion  to  duty  and  un¬ 
selfishness  are  not  nerve  secretions  and  muscular 
contractions.  They  are  soul  activities.  There¬ 
fore  a  withered  soul  is  a  withered  manhood. 

Every  break-down  in  character  takes  place  in 
the  soul.  Sometimes  one  who  has  stood  fair  be¬ 
fore  the  community  for  a  score  of  years  suddenly 
goes  to  pieces.  An  examination  usually  reveals 
that  behind  the  act  which  wrought  his  undoing 
was  a  career  in  which  conscience  was  compro¬ 
mised  and  the  integrity  of  the  soul  impaired. 
The  effect  of  an  infirm  soul  on  the  moral  nature 
is  like  that  of  a  weak  heart  on  circulation.  It 
gives  disease  an  easy  victory.  Sxiiritual  atrophy 
is  the  creeping  paralysis  of  manhood. 

“  It  is  the  soul’s  prerogative,  its  fate, 

To  shape  the  outward  to  its  own  estate.  ’  ’ 1 


1  R.  II.  Dana. 


72 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


All  future  progress  for  man  must  be  in  the 
spiritual  realm.  It  must  be  through  the  exercise 
and  development  of  the  eternal  within  him. 

The  difference  between  two  men  is  not  their 
avoirdupois  but  their  spirit.  Some  great  men 
are  of  mean  bodily  presence,  but  the  soul  is 
majestic.  It  is  not  girth  nor  stature  nor  weight, 
but  vision  and  daring  that  make  a  man  great. 

It  will  not  be  by  growing  a  stronger  hand,  a 
keener  eye,  a  swifter  foot,  a  better  system  of  cir¬ 
culation  and  digestion  that  the  man  of  to-mor¬ 
row  will  be  a  higher  being  than  the  man  of  to-day. 
If  a  better  type  of  man  is  to  be  grown,  the  soul 
must  push  out  into  eternal  realms.  There  must 
grow  a  being  with  a  vaster  apprehension  of  the 
infinite.  He  must  have  a  keener  hearing  for  the 
voices  of  the  eternal.  What  is  this  but  saying 
that  all  future  progress  for  man  must  be  spirit¬ 
ual  progress  ?  The  man  whose  soul  is  atrophied 
has  made  further  progress  impossible.  His  evo¬ 
lution  has  called  a  halt.  If  he  is  ever  to  go  on, 
the  soul  must  throw  off  its  paralysis. 

“  Wander  at  will, 

Day  after  day, — 

Wander  away, 

Wandering  still  — 

Soul  that  canst  soar ! 

Body  may  slumber, 

Body  shall  cumber 
Soul  flight  no  more.”  1 

All  future  as  well  as  all  present  happiness  for 

1  Robert  Browning. 


THE  ATROPHY  OF  A  SOUL 


73 


man  must  be  in  the  spiritual  realm.  The  atrophy 
of  the  soul  is  the  negation  of  heaven.  The  size 
of  one’s  heaven  is  the  exact  dimensions  of  his 
soul.  Happiness  is  a  matter  of  appetite  and 
capacity.  As  well  prepare  dinner  for  a  corpse 
as  heaven  for  a  soul  whose  spiritual  functions  are 
dead.  The  problem  of  the  hereafter  is  not  the 
matter  of  a  celestial  climate  and  a  city  beautiful. 
It  is  the  problem  of  the  eternal  in  man.  The 
kingdom  is  within  him.  The  greatest  concern  of 
a  human  being  therefore  should  be  to  feel  God’s 
presence,  to  be  stirred  by  His  message,  to  have 
faith  in  the  invisible,  and  to  follow  aspirations 
which  leap  over  the  boundaries  of  time  and  seek 
satisfaction  in  the  infinite.  For  to  be  devoid  of 
all  this  is  to  fall  a  victim  to  the  disease  that  des¬ 
troys  character,  paralyzes  progress,  and  forbids 
happiness. 


YII 


A  GOD  IN  RUINS 

“  Every  mao  is  a  divinity  in  disguise,  a  god  playing  the 
fool.” — Emerson. 

“  ’Tis  the  divinity  that  stirs  within  us, 

And  intimates  eternity  to  man, 

Aye  thou  shalt  flourish  in  immortal  youth, 

Unhurt  amidst  the  war  of  elements, 

The  wreck  of  matter  and  the  crush  of  worlds.  ’  ’ 

— Joseph  Addison. 

“We  desire  immortality,  not  as  a  reward  of  virtue,  but  as 
its  continuance.” — Jean  Paul  Richter. 

Man  is  a  ruin,  but  God  does  not  lose  interest. 
Why?  It  is  the  question  Job  asked  centuries 
ago,  and  which  thoughtful  men  have  always 
asked. 

Looking  up  out  of  the  ruins  of  his  life  the  dis¬ 
tracted,  distressed,  afflicted  old  patriarch  cried 
out  to  the  divinity  he  recognized  and  sought  to 
understand.  u  What  is  man  that  Thou  shouldest 
magnify  him?”  1  He  was  conscious  of  his  own 
desolation  and  degradation.  Open-eyed,  he  stared 
full  into  the  spectacle  of  his  own  ruin.  He  re¬ 
cites  the  chapter  of  his  woes  and  miseries.  He 
paints  the  portrait  of  a  man  in  total  collapse  and 

1  Job  7  : 17. 

74 


A  GOD  IN  RUINS 


75 


hopeless  eclipse,  and  says :  U1  loathe  my  life  ;  I 
would  not  live  alway.”  1 
And  yet  he  is  convinced  that  for  some  reason 
God  retains  His  interest  in  the  ruin.  He  has  not 
forgotten  man.  Even  hardship  and  afflictions 
are  signs  of  divine  concern.  What  God  sees  in 
the  heap  of  rubbish  represented  by  defeated,  dis¬ 
crowned  and  broken  manhood,  leads  Him  to  take 
it  into  His  hands  as  the  potter  the  clay,  and  to 
put  it  to  the  wheel  on  which  Deity  fashions  its 
best  work.  This  was  Job’s  puzzle.  For  the  mo¬ 
ment  the  wonder  of  it  made  him  forget  the  pain 
and  shame  of  his  own  defeat.  It  was  the  sjjec- 
tacle  of  a  God  in  thought  and  travail  over  fallen 
man. 


The  Puzzle  of  the  Race 

The  thing  wfflich  puzzled  Job,  puzzles  all.  The 
fall  is  a  fact  of  which  every  man  must  be  con¬ 
scious.  It  matters  not  for  this,  whether  Adam 
and  Eve  were  real  persons  or  race  terms,  whether 
the  story  of  the  lost  Eden  in  the  Bible  be  a  his¬ 
torical  narration  or  a  pictorial  portrayal  of  the 
tragedy  enacted  in  every  man’ s  experience.  The 
fall  is  a  fact.  Man  is  confronted  daily  by  the 
spectacle  of  his  own  sin  and  shame.  He  sees  the 
ruin  in  himself.  He  stares  full  at  the  dismal 
spectacle  of  his  moral  and  spiritual  collapse. 

The  question  arises :  Why  should  God  retain 
His  interest  ?  Why  should  He  be  concerned  for 
such  a  ruin  as  fallen,  besotted,  imbruted  human 


1  Job  7: 16. 


THE  ETEBNAL  IN  MAN 


76 

nature !  Is  He  not  the  Creator  t  If  He  wants  a 
race  of  perfect  beings  why  not  make  them  out¬ 
right  ?  Why  waste  Himself  on  the  broken  frag¬ 
ments  ? 

What  can  the  Infinite  find  of  interest  in  that 
creature  with  low  forehead  and  narrow  eyes  and 
misshapen  skull,  whose  countenance  is  seamed 
with  vice  and  written  over  with  the  ruin  of  the 
ten  commandments  ?  He  is  base  enough  to  plot 
the  betrayal  of  his  best  friend.  He  is  treacher¬ 
ous,  licentious,  anarchistic,  diabolical.  Passions 
that  would  make  a  hell  seethe  in  his  brain  and 
riot  through  his  blood.  Thoughts  foment  that 
would  blacken  the  face  of  the  father  of  lies. 
Surely  there  is  no  element  of  eternal  kinship  here. 

Why  should  a  holy  God  continue  His  interest 
in  a  creature  so  abandoned  and  apostate  ?  Why 
not  efface  such  a  moral  monstrosity  and  with  a 
fresh  creative  start,  people  the  earth  with  a  race 
of  worthies  % 

It  is  because  man,  fallen  though  he  be,  is  still 
God’s  offspring  and  God  cannot  consent  to  deny 
His  own.  Man  is  a  prodigal  in  the  far  country, 
in  rags  and  haggard  want  and  dire  wretchedness, 
but  he  is  a  son.  The  life  of  his  Maker  courses 
in  his  veins.  The  father-heart  of  God  yearns  for 
His  wayward  child  and  the  arms  of  divine  love 
are  waiting  to  embrace  the  prodigal  when  at  last 
he  sets  his  face  towards  home. 

This  is  why  God  does  not  lose  interest.  Man 
has  a  celestial  origin.  He  is  in  ruins,  but  he  is 
a  god  in  ruins. 


A  GOD  IN  RUINS 


77 


One  summer  day,  while  spending  a  week  with 
a  friend  in  Virginia,  I  was  driven  some  ten  miles 
across  the  country  to  see  the  remains  of  an  old 
colonial  mansion.  The  place  stretching  along 
the  banks  of  the  Rappahannock  had,  in  former 
days,  been  one  of  the  great  estates  of  the  Old 
Dominion.  The  stone  mansion,  with  graceful 
colonnades  running  off  to  wings  on  either  side, 
stood  on  an  elevation,  with  the  ground  in  front 
terraced  to  the  river’s  edge,  where  boats  had 
once  been  kept  in  waiting  to  carry  merry  parties 
on  pleasure  trips.  In  the  rear  of  the  building 
stood  a  large  grove  of  great  oaks,  and  further 
back  were  the  negro  quarters.  Slightly  removed 
was  the  family  burying  place,  where  for  genera¬ 
tions,  the  sons  of  the  house  had  been  laid  to  their 
rest.  On  all  sides  and  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
see  stretched  the  ample  acres  of  the  vast  estate. 
It  had  been  the  ancestral  home  of  one  of  the 
proudest  families  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  its 
sons  had  served  in  the  army,  in  the  National 
Congress  and  in  the  official  life  of  Virginia. 

Such  was  the  past  of  the  great  house.  But  all 
this  had  changed.  It  was  a  dismal  scene  that 
confronted  the  visitors.  During  the  war  between 
the  States  some  Union  soldiers  had  spent  the 
night  in  the  house,  and  the  next  morning  on 
departure  had  applied  the  torch,  leaving  the 
mansion  in  ruins.  The  sons  had  fallen  in  the 
Southern  army.  The  family’s  wealth  had  been 
wiped  out  by  the  ravages  of  the  war.  The  roof¬ 
less  walls  stood  like  skeletons  with  here  and  there 


78 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


a  climbing  vine  to  liide  their  shame.  A  few 
charred  rafters  remained  to  tell  the  story  of  the 
flames.  Tbs  colonnades  were  standing  but  the 
wings  had  crumbled  into  heaps  of  broken  stone. 
The  fences  were  fallen  and  the  graves  weed- 
grown  and  neglected.  The  great  oaks  still  stood, 
splendid  in  their  prime,  but  the  winds  seemed  to 
sigh  rather  than  sing  through  their  branches. 
Across  the  fields,  miles  distant,  in  a  modest  cot¬ 
tage  dwelt  the  sole  surviving  representative  of 
the  family.  The  estate  of  his  fathers  had  passed 
into  other  hands,  and  he  was  a  small  renter  who 
should  have  been  the  heir.  It  was  the  ruin  of  a 
noble  house,  the  collapse  of  a  great  family. 

As  the  visitor  looked  upon  the  ruins  and  lis¬ 
tened  to  the  story,  he  could  not  repress  the  long¬ 
ing  to  see  the  ruins  restored,  the  mansion  rebuilt, 
the  broad  acres  tilled  again,  the  terrace  and 
flower  gardens  in  repair,  the  boats  once  more  on 
the  river,  the  halls  and  colonnades  filled  with 
laughter  and  the  gaiety  of  music  and  song ;  not 
by  strangers,  not  because  some  alien,  newly  rich, 
had  bought  the  place,  but  because  some  scion  of 
the  old  stock  with  the  light  and  glory  of  other 
days,  was  back  i  n  the  house  of  his  fathers. 

Must  it  not  be  with  feelings,  kindred  in  their 
nature  while  divine  in  their  yearning,  that  God 
looks  down  upon  the  ruins  of  fallen,  sinful  human 
nature  ?  He  is  thinking  of  the  old  times  ;  of  the 
high  hour  of  man’s  divine  origin  ;  of  what  He 
meant  man  to  be  when  He  thought  of  him  first ; 
of  the  praise  and  place,  the  light  and  joy  of  a  life 


A  GOD  IN  RUINS 


79 


sin  had  not  yet  stained.  As  He  gazes  on  the 
ruins,  the  empty  rooms  and  crumbling  walls  and 
weed-grown  gardens  and  untilled  fields  of  fallen 
manhood,  who  can  doubt  that  a  great  longing 
arises  in  the  heart  of  God  that  the  ruins  may  be 
restored!  So  God  thinks  and  plans  and  toils, 
not  that  an  alien  race  may  dwell  beneath  His 
roof,  but  that  some  day  the  prodigal  may  come 
home,  and  the  scion  of  the  old  stock  dwell  again 
in  His  Father’s  house. 

This  is  the  sinner’s  hope.  It  is  well  for  him 
now  and  then  to  think  of  what  he  was  $  to  catch 
the  first  flush  on  the  world’s  sky  of  that  morning 
when  God  said  :  “Let  us  make  man  in  our  im¬ 
age,”  to  hear  the  far-off  strains  of  music,  sweeter 
than  a  seraph’s  song,  when  the  morning  stars 
sang  together  for  joy  over  man’s  advent  into  the 
family  of  God. 

There  is  a  message  of  the  “exceeding  sinful¬ 
ness  of  sin,”  of  total  depravity,  of  apostasy  and 
moral  pollution  and  spiritual  collapse.  There  is 
also  a  message  that  this  fallen  sinner  fell  from 
the  skies.  The  low  dust  in  which  he  lies  is  no 
argument  against  the  high  place  from  which  he 
fell. 

One  may  destroy  a  noble  canvas  of  some  old 
master,  but  on  every  brain  that  has  gazed  upon 
it,  the  picture  has  stamped  itself.  The  icono¬ 
clast  may  shiver  a  marble  statue,  but  here  and 
there  a  chip  tells  of  the  artist’s  chisel.  One 
might  crush  the  Kohinoor  with  ponderous  blows, 
but  the  fragments  of  the  crystal  would  flash  forth 


80 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


the  fact  that  it  was  a  diamond  the  hammer 
struck. 

It  is  true  of  fallen  man.  There  may  be  found 
the  marks  and  signs  of  what  he  was  before  he 
fell.  As  one  scans  the  ruins,  he  may  detect  here 
and  there,  the  tracery  of  godhood,  and  discover 
“the  divinity  in  disguise.” 

The  Signs  of  Divinity  Amid  the  Ruins 

The  evidence  that  man  is  a  god  in  ruins  is 
found  in  the  Bible-story  of  creation.  However 
one  may  interpret  the  opening  chapters  of  Genesis, 
two  facts  are  made  plain. 

One  is  that  God  made  man  in  His  image,  in 
His  likeness.  He  stamped  him  with  the  face  of 
the  Deity.  He  put  the  thought  of  a  god  in  his 
mind,  and  the  impulse  of  a  god  in  his  heart. 
He  set  the  work  of  a  god  before  him  and  placed 
the  destiny  of  a  god  within  his  reach. 

The  other  fact  is  that  man  was  God’s  highest 
product.  He  was  divinity’s  best.  Man  was  the 
master.  At  the  summit  of  creation  God  made 
one  like  Himself  and  crowned  him  with  the  em¬ 
pire  of  the  world.  The  Bible  teaches  that  man 
was  not  always  a  fallen  creature. 

Similar  evidence  is  found  in  the  world’s  story  of 
human  history.  History  after  all,  is  but  the  biog¬ 
raphy  of  man.  It  tells  us  his  mistakes,  but  also 
his  triumphs.  What  has  come  to  pass,  man  has 
wrought.  Here  and  there  some  world  leader  has 
stepped  forth  and  made  the  race  tremble  or  re¬ 
joice,  as  he  has  revealed  the  prowess  of  a  man. 


A  GOD  IN  RUINS 


81 


We  call  such  an  one  a  genius,  but  he  is  but  show¬ 
ing  what  every  man  might  be  were  the  race  at  its 
best. 

Some  one  has  said  that  institutions  are  but  the 
lengthened  shadow  of  a  man.  Governments  are 
a  man’s  thought,  civilization  is  a  man’s  product, 
religion  is  a  man’s  aspiration.  Man  is  more  than 
a  bit  of  animated  dust,  far  more  than  protoplasm 
floating  up  into  consciousness.  The  man  of  his¬ 
tory,  despite  all  his  barbarism  and  cruelty,  car¬ 
ries  some  lines  that  are  like  the  lineaments  of 
God. 

Human  personality  tells  the  same  story.  A 
babe  is  born.  It  is  untaught,  unskilled,  helpless. 
It  seems  to  be  but  a  bundle  of  breathing  animal¬ 
ism  in  a  nurse’s  arms.  One  day  it  startles  its 
audience  with  a  voice.  In  articulate  speech  it 
makes  known  its  wants,  and  gives  its  commands. 
It  has  thoughts  and  volitions.  Inside  the  little 
body  of  nerve  cells  and  tear  glands,  there  is  a 
soul ;  and  the  voice  of  the  child  rings  like  a  mes¬ 
sage  from  the  court  of  God.  A  later  day  comes 
when  the  child  wants  more  than  nourishment. 
More  than  the  senses  must  be  fed.  There  are 
aspirations  as  well  as  appetites.  These  assert 
themselves  and  call  for  higher  heights  and  finer 
sights.  The  soul  stretches  out  its  hand.  There 
is  prayer.  The  slumbering  memories  of  a  Face 
which  stamped  its  image  on  the  soul  awake  and 
call  for  the  Father’s  presence.  The  prayer-cry 
harks  back  to  the  courts  of  heaven. 

The  mind  begins  to  think,  who  shall  set  limits 


82 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


to  the  realm  of  thought?  Man  thinks  out  beyond 
the  sky-line,  beyond  the  farthest  planet.  He 
thinks  all  the  thoughts  that  were  before  him  and 
time  is  obliterated.  He  thinks  beyond  the  senses 
and  space  is  annihilated.  He  thinks  on  and  up 
and  out,  great  world  thoughts,  until  directly  he 
is  “thinking  God’s  thoughts  after  Him.”  Man’s 
thought  as  well  as  his  aspiration  is  a  path  back 
to  his  Father’s  house. 

The  man  begins  to  work  and  his  thoughts  are 
embodied  in  the  world  he  creates.  A  Gothic 
Cathedral  arises;  a  man  built  it.  We  wander 
through  picture  galleries  and  halls  of  statuary  ; 
they  are  the  works  of  men’s  hands.  Forests  are 
subdued,  mines  opened,  cities  builded,  the  sea 
covered  with  ships,  the  lightning  chained,  the  air 
filled  with  invisible  and  intangible  lines  of  com¬ 
munication  that  carry  man’s  thought  around  the 
globe.  Man  is  at  the  summit  of  the  modern 
world.  In  ruins  as  he  is,  he  possesses  more 
knowledge  and  vaster  power  than  any  of  the  gods 
of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome. 

As  he  toils  on,  he  must  have  a  wider  platform, 
a  bigger  world.  The  race  is  his  audience,  eter¬ 
nity  his  time-table,  and  God’s  limitless  universe 
the  realm  in  which  he  would  exploit  himself. 
As  man  studies  himself,  there  begins  to  break  in 
upon  him  an  explanation  of  God’s  infinite  con¬ 
cern  for  the  highest  of  His  creatures. 

As  if  fearing  lest  his  study  of  himself  might 
fail  to  convince  man  of  his  high  origin,  God,  in 
the  fulness  of  time,  sent  into  the  world  a  man 


A  GOD  TN  RUINS 


83 


whose  form  and  face,  whose  saintly  character 
and  sweet  life  could  not  cancel  his  godhood.  He 
sent  Christ  to  disclose  man’s  high  destiny  in  the 
plan  and  purpose  of  God.  Jesus  Christ  is  God’s  ^ 
thought  for  man.  He  was  God  in  the  flesh  and 
God  in  the  liesli  is  not  a  god  in  ruins,  but  a  man 
in  the  glory  of  redeemed  character. 

Then  as  if  He  feared  that  in  the  supreme  mo¬ 
ment,  the  sinner’s  heart  might  fail  him  as  he 
turns  from  the  vision  of  the  Christ  to  the  sight 
of  his  own  fallen  and  ruined  life,  and  say :  “  Such 
glory  is  not  for  me,”  a  gospel  was  given  which 
speaks-  in  promises  not  to  be  misunderstood. 
Jesus  is  declared  to  be  “the  first-born  of  many 
brethren,”  and  those  who  find  themselves  in  Him 
are  called  the  t  L  Sons  and  daughters  of  the  Lord 
Almighty,”  the  heirs  of  the  ancient  ancestral 
estates,  scions  of  the  divine  stock. 

The  Puzzle  Solved 

It  is  no  wonder  that  God  is  interested  in  man. 
Shall  God  forget  His  own  ?  Shall  the  love  of  the 
Eternal  Father  fail  % 

Man  is  no  freak  of  evolution.  The  Darwinian 
theory  of  the  origin  of  man  is  the  pedigree  of  a 
bastard-race.  At  the  Scientific  Congress  in  Mos¬ 
cow,  Virchow  declared  that  this  theory  of  man’s 
origin  from  an  inferior  species  “had  been  beaten 
on  its  whole  line  of  battle.”  Fogazarro,  the  dis¬ 
tinguished  Italian  writer,  says:  “We  must  ad¬ 
mit  that  science  does  not  possess  a  single  reliable 
direct  proof  of  the  origin  of  man  from  an  inferior 


$4 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


species”  ;  and  Moleschott  declares  that  “men 
were  more  generous  to  Darwin  than  the  facts.” 
The  fancy  that  man  is  a  demon  in  the  slow  proc¬ 
ess  of  development,  a  mere  animal  at  certain 
stages  of  this  development,  and  worse  than  an 
animal  at  others  is  too  weird  for  credence.  Man 
is  not  a  gorilla  with  his  savage  propensities 
tamed  by  the  gang  spirit  or  social  instinct.  Rack 
of  Adam  is  God.  The  soul  of  man  cries  out  for 
God  as  a  lost  child  for  parental  love.  The  sinner 
is  a  prodigal  far  from  home,  evil  has  its  foot  on 
his  neck  and  base  passions  have  left  their  mark 
upon  him  ;  but  deeper  is  the  tracery  of  God  and 
more  enduring  is  the  Maker’s  image.  Salvation 
is  God’s  effort  to  get  His  child  back  home,  not 
merely  as  good  as  he  was  when  he  left,  but  with 
soul  stature  achieved  in  the  gymnasium  of  life. 

He  is  restoring  the  ruins  and  carrying  the 
work  of  character  building  on  to  conform  to  His 
perfect  and  eternal  plan  for  man.  Since  God 
cannot  fail,  He  will  not  rest  until  the  ruins  are 
restored,  and 

“■ - the  divinity  that  stirs  within  us. 

And  intimates  eternity  to  man,” 


is  once  more  on  the  throne. 


VIII 


A  NEW  CREATURE 

“The  finest  fruit  earth  holds  up  to  its  Maker  is  a  finished 
man .’  ’ — Humboldt. 

“  And  you,  a  Thought  incarnate  here 
On  ministries  of  trust, 

Must  tread  the  sacred  way,  and  scorn 
To  run  a  race  with  dust ; 

Hold  the  high  gospel  up  to  men  ; 

That  all  the  thoughts  that  thrill 
Along  the  nerve-lines  of  their  lives 
Are  indestructible.  ’ 5 

— Marion  V.  Dudley. 


Salvation  is  the  eternal  in  man  recovering 
the  use  of  itself  by  means  of  what  the  Bible  calls 
“being  born  again. 1 J  The  new  birth  cures  the 
soul  of  original  sin  and  delivers  it  from  the  pa¬ 
ralysis  of  spiritual  atrophy. 

When  the  eternal  in  man  thus  gets  the  right  of 
way,  he  becomes  so  completely  changed  that  it  is 
not  exaggeration  to  call  him  a  “new  creature.” 
He  has  not  lost  his  identify,  nor  surrendered  his 
personality  ;  but  the  transformation  is  so  striking, 
so  fundamental  and  so  far-reaching  as  virtually 
to  make  a  new  man  of  him. 

It  is  this  that  led  Paul  to  say  to  the  Chris- 

85 


86 


THE  ETEBNAL  IN  MAN 


tians  at  Corintli :  u  If  any  man  be  in  Christ,  he 
is  a  new  creature.”  1 

He  is  writing  out  of  his  own  experience.  He 
is  not  theorizing.  He  is  not  discussing  theology, 
but  life.  The  two  are  not  always  the  same. 
Chemistry  is  not  always  food,  astronomy  is  not 
always  stars,  botany  is  not  always  flowers,  and 
theology  is  not  always  religion.  One  may  be  a 
very  good  theologian  and  a  very  poor  Christian. 
He  may  be  well  supplied  with  dogma,  but  short 
on  experience.  Paul  tells  of  a  thing  he  knows 
because  he  has  found  it  true  in  his  own  life. 
Those  who  knew  Paul  best,  believed  him.  When 
Paul  became  a  Christian^  it  made  him  a  new  man. 

A  Thoroughgoing  Salvation 

Salvation  is  a  thoroughgoing  cure.  Christ  does 
not  say  :  “I  will  mend  you ;  I  will  patch  the 
holes  of  your  ragged  and  worn-out  character ; 
I  will  brush  the  dust  from  your  reputation  and 
freshen  your  appearance  ; ?  ?  but  4 1 1  will  make 
you  new.”  It  is  an  offer  to  replace  the  old,  to 
substitute  soundness  for  disease  and  fresh  robes 
for  rags. 

He  does  not  say:  u  I  will  treat  your  symp¬ 
toms  ;  I  will  stupefy  your  senses  and  deaden 
your  pain  ;  I  will  cover  your  hurts  with  band¬ 
ages  and  disguise  their  offensiveness  with  per¬ 
fumes  ;  ”  but  u  I  will  make  you  a  new  creature.” 

He  does  not  say  :  “I  will  change  your  home, 


V 


x2  Cor.  5  : 17. 


A  NEW  CREATURE 


87 


your  business,  your  acquaintances,  your  wages, 
your  work;”  but  “I  will  change  you.”  It  is 
not  the  promise  of  new  climate  nor  new  scenery 
nor  new  diet  but  of  new  manhood. 

He  does  not  say  that  He  will  make  man  think 
he  is  changed,  that  He  will  fool  him  into  believ¬ 
ing  he  is  something  he  is  not,  that  He  will  dupe 
him  with  mental  delusions  and  admit  him  to  a 
fool’s  paradise.  Christ  proposes  to  enter  the 


central  citadel  of  human  nature  and  right  all  i 

that  is  wrong  in  us  and  our  surroundings,  for 

time  and  eternity,  by  so  completely  reforming  and 

transforming  and  renewing  and  regenerating  us 

that  we  shall  be  nothing  short  of  new  creatures. 

This  is  what  Christianity  proposes  to  do  for  a 

human  life,  and  it  is  the  only  remedial  agency  of  ; 

any  sect  or  school  that  dares  make  so  astounding 

a  proposal.  The  offer  is  divine  in  its  audacity. 

The  Only  Salvation  That  Will  Meet 

the  Case 

A  thoroughgoing  cure  is  what  man  needs  and 
it  is  the  only  salvation  that  will  meet  the  case. 

It  is  not  enough  to  get  mended.  It  is  not  enough 
to  get  a  ragged  character  patched.  The  old  and 
new  will  soon  part  company  and  the  rent  be 
worse  than  ever.  It  is  not  enough  to  have  symp¬ 
toms  treated  and  pains  deadened.  After  a  while 
drugs  will  lose  their  effect.  The  soul  will  shake 
off  its  stupor  and  be  racked  with  pent-up  tor¬ 
tures.  A  change  of  surroundings  or  of  work  will 
soon  lose  novelty,  and  the  old  monotony  will 


88 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


grind  in  upon  us.  The  mental  delusion  will  strike 
against  the  solid  wall  of  life’s  actualities  and  we 
shall  open  our  eyes  to  discover  that  our  fool’s 
paradise  has  disappeared.  If  things  are  ever  to 
be  better  the  individual  must  be  cured. 

Some  have  low  appetites.  It  is  not  enough  to 
starve  them.  A  fast  only  whets  the  edge  of  their 
hunger.  The  need  is  to  have  that  which  is  low 
replaced  by  that  which  is  high. 

Some  have  bad  tempers  and  belong  to  the  class 
of  explosives.  We  go  off  at  the  wrong  time  and 
disastrously  to  those  in  our  vicinity.  We  say 
sharp  and  hurting  things.  What  we  need  is  not 
a  ball  and  chain  for  our  temper,  nor  a  cell  in  which 
to  coniine  it.  We  need  the  thing  replaced  by  a 
new  one  that  can  keep  sweet. 

Some  have  hateful  ways,  and  do  mean  things, 
that  wound  others,  and  make  them  unhappy. 
They  need  a  change  of  disposition,  a  new  tem¬ 
perament. 

Some  of  us  have  bad  habits  and  do  things  that 
are  wrong.  We  know  they  are  wrong,  but  we 
go  on  doing  them.  With  every  indulgence  the 
bad  habit  increases  its  power,  and  we  become 
more  hopelessly  and  helplessly  its  victims.  What 
we  need  is  not  to  be  told  what  is  wrong,  for  we 
know  that  full  well  already.  We  need  to  be 
emancipated. 

Some  are  down.  We  have  been  unfortunate. 
We  are  disheartened  and  disappointed.  We  have 
failed.  What  we  need  is  not  so  much  a  spirit  of 
resignation  and  submission,  as  a  dauntless  faith 


A  NEW  CREATURE 


89 


which  will  enable  us  to  stand  up,  with  fresh 
courage  and  resolution,  for  a  new  career. 

To  meet  all  this  there  must  be  a  thoroughgoing 
salvation.  A  man  has  got  to  get  saved  so  that 
he  can  live  anywhere.  He  wants  to  be  fixed  so 
that  it  will  be  unnecessary  to  be  continually  run¬ 
ning  away  from  temptation.  Temptation  is  the 
kind  of  thing  that  cannot  be  entirely  escaped. 
One  may  betake  himself  to  the  lonely  desert  and 
lead  a  solitary  life,  but  he  has  not  escaped  temp¬ 
tation.  It  is  entirely  proper  not  to  run  into 
temptation  ;  and  he  is  worse  than  foolhardy  who 
goes  out  of  his  way  to  meet  the  tempter  ;  but  the 
soul  needs  more  than  a  sanatorium.  It  needs  to 
be  saved  so  that  it  can  live  anywhere,  in  town 
or  out  of  town,  and  fight  its  battle  through  to 
victory. 

It  is  not  the  salvation  that  gives  one  a  new 
way  of  going  to  church,  or  a  new  way  of  reading 
the  Bible,  or  a  new  way  of  behaving  in  God’s 
house  that  is  needed.  It  is  not  a  gospel  with  a 
new  creed  or  a  new  ritual  or  a  new  confessional. 
All  these  belong  to  the  shallows.  They  are  mere 
superficialities.  The  need  is  to  become  new  crea¬ 
tures  and  Christ  promises  that  we  shall. 

God  has  not  stopped  creating.  He  made  the 
world,  and  made  it  so  beautiful  that  the  artist’s 
pencil  and  the  painter’s  brush  are  in  despair. 
But  God  is  still  the  Creator,  and  His  product 
now  is  more  beautiful  than  His  world.  He  is 
giving  to  His  work  some  of  the  beauty  of  Him¬ 
self.  He  is  creating  human  souls  in  the  imag® 


90 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


of  the  Christ.  This  is  His  way  of  restoring  the 
god  that  is  in  ruins.  The  man  that  is  fallen. 

Christ  Makes  New  Creatures 

The  divine  thing  about  Christ  is  His  ability  to 
make  men  new,  to  impart  life.  He  did  not  come 
to  confer  things,  but  to  impart  life.  Only  the 
Deity  can  do  this.  Lord  Kelvin  in  a  recent  ad¬ 
dress  to  physicians  said  :  “Let  not  your  minds 
lie  dazzled  by  the  imagining  of  the  daily  news¬ 
papers  that  because  Berthelot  and  others  have 
made  *food  stuffs,  they  can  make  living  things,  or 
that  there  is  any  prospect  of  a  process  being 
found  in  any  laboratory  for  making  a  living 
thing,  whether  the  minutest  germ  of  bacteriology 
or  anything  smaller  or  greater.  There  is  an  ab¬ 
solute  distinction  between  crystals  and  cells. 
Anything  that  crystallizes  can  be  made  by  the 
chemist.  Nothing  approaching  to  the  cell  of  a 
living  creature  has  yet  been  made  A 

Only  life  can  beget  life.  God  is  the  author  of 
all  life.  When  we  come  to  that  highest  of  all  the 
kinds  of  life,  the  spiritual,  it  is  preeminently 
true  that  the  chemist  must  be  divine.  Christ’s 
claim  is  to  give  life  to  the  dead  soul.  He  says  : 
1  i  I  am  come  that  ye  might  have  life  and  that  ye 
might  have  it  more  abundantly.” 

Like  all  creations,  the  origin  of  this  new  life  is 
a  mystery.  We  do  not  know  how  Christ  makes 
us  new.  To  Nicodemus,  Jesus  said  :  “The  wind 
bloweth  where  it  will  and  thou  hearest  the  voice 
thereof,  but  knowest  not  whence  it  cometh,  and 


A  NEW  CREATURE 


91 


whither  it  goeth  :  so  is  every  one  that  is  born  of 
the  Spirit.  ”  1 

The  new  birth  is  as  much  a  mystery  now  as 
then.  The  origin  of  life  is  always  a  mystery.  It 
cannot  be  explained,  but  one  can  be  perfectly 
satisfied  of  its  reality  by  its  results. 

I  do  not  know  how  the  Creator,  away  back  in 
that  primal  dawn  of  existence,  lifted  nothing  into 
something  by  the  word  of  His  power ;  but  X 
know  the  world  is  here.  It  is  a  great  reality. 

I  cannot  understand  how  Christ  makes  new 
creatures,  but  I  know  that  He  does,  for  I  see  the 
product.  Some  have  experienced  the  change. 
We  have  seen  the  wonderful  transformation  come 
to  pass  and  can  no  more  doubt  its  reality  than 
we  can  that  of  the  natural  world  whose  existence 
is  certified  to  our  senses. 

Dr.  Gordon  of  Boston  used  to  tell  of  an  Irish¬ 
man  named  Daley  who  had  been  converted  in 
one  of  the  Moody  meetings.  He  had  a  com¬ 
panion  named  Murphy,  who  was  a  wretched 
drunkard,  and  in  whose  salvation  he  became 
deeply  interested.  At  the  close  of  a  prolonged 
debauch,  when  Murphy  was  miserable  and  half¬ 
penitent,  Daley  got  him  to  a  meeting,  and  he 
became  a  Christian.  Daley  knew  the  struggle 
that  was  before  his  comrade  and  set  himself  to 
try  to  shield  him  from  temptation.  The  next 
Sunday  morning  Daley  saw  one  of  Murphy’s 
boon  companions  coming  and  he  feared  that  if 
the  two  men  should  get  together,  it  would  be  an- 

1 1  John  3  :  8. 


92 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


other  spree.  He  met  the  man  at  the  door  and 
said  :  u  Murphy  is  not  here.  He  does  not  live 
here  any  longer.’7 

With  much  anxiety  Haley  told  what  he  had 
said,  to  Hr.  Gordon,  and  asked,  u  Hid  I  lie,  sir? 
You  knowr  Mr.  Moody  said  that  wdien  a  man  is 
converted,  he  is  a  new  creature.  Old  things  are 
passed  away  and  all  things  have  become  new. 
Now  what  I  meant  was  that  old  Murphy  did  not 
live  there.  Old  Murphy  has  passed  away  and 
Murphy  is  a  new  man.” 

It  is  not  necessary  to  settle  the  question  of 
veracity  raised  by  the  new  convert ;  but  of  this 
there  need  not  be  any  sort  of  doubt :  Jesus  Christ 
is  able  to  make  men  new".  This  is  the  gospel 
offer.  No  matter  how  hard  the  case,  how  far 
gone  in  sin  one  may  be,  nor  how  much  in  de¬ 
spair  about  himself,  he  can  step  through  the  open 
door  of  divine  grace  into  Christ  and  a  new  life. 

What  is  It  to  be  a  New  Creature? 

What  does  the  promise  mean  ? 

Perhaps  it  would  be  better  first  to  consider 
what  it  does  not  mean. 

It  does  not  mean  that  temptations  wrill  cease, 
nor  that  one  will  be  given  a  nature  that  cannot  be 
tempted.  Christ  did  not  have  that  kind  of  a 
nature.  He  could  be  and  was  tempted.  Temp¬ 
tations  are  not  the  worst  things  that  befall  us. 
They  have  their  mission.  They  develop  force  of 
character.  The  trial  of  faith  is  precious.  God 
does  not  promise  to  keep  us  clear  of  temptation. 


A  NEW  CEEATUBE 


93 


His  promise  is  that  we  shall  not  be  tempted  be¬ 
yond  that  we  are  able,  and  that  with  the  tempta¬ 
tion  there  shall  be  a  way  of  escape. 

It  does  not  mean  that  responsibility  will  cease. 
To  be  saved  is  not  to  be  lifted  into  a  condition 
where  one  can  live  any  way  and  escape  the  con¬ 
sequences.  There  is  a  penalty  for  wrong-doing 
here  from  which  exemption  is  impossible.  Even 
the  atoning  work  of  Christ  does  not  cancel  the 
individual’s  personal  responsibility. 

Neither  does  it  mean  that  the  things  of  life 
which  worry  and  trouble  will  necessarily  be 
taken  away.  It  does  not  mean  that  the  sea  will 
never  have  a  storm,  the  sky  a  cloud,  the  road  a 
stone,  nor  the  day  a  regret.  It  is  not  a  new 
environment  that  is  promised,  but  a  new  nature 
in  the  old  environment.  A  humming-bird  could 
not  live  long  in  the  climate  of  the  Arctic  zone. 
The  bird  is  not  built  for  such  weather.  But  a 
Polar  bear  does  not  mind  the  Arctic  ice.  He 
is  equipped  for  such  conditions.  The  zone  pre¬ 
sents  the  same  climate  for  bird  and  bear  ;  one 
dies  and  the  other  thrives.  If  one  can  get  within 
him  a  power  to  rise  above  conditions  and  con¬ 
quer  environment,  let  the  zone  stand.  It  is  bet¬ 
ter  to  acquire  vigour  than  to  seek  a  change  of 
air. 

It  does  not  mean  merely  that  a  new  chance  will 
be  given  when  we  fail.  It  is  true  God  gives  this. 
He  never  says  “no”  to  any  soul  that  turns 
towards  Him  from  the  dust.  But  God  does  not 
mean  a  man  to  stay  on  crutches  forever.  He 


94 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


does  not  intend  him  to  collapse  before  every  gust 
of  temptation.  He  lias  something  better  than 
the  chance  to  rise  after  a  fall.  It  is  the  chance 
not  to  fall.  Nor  does  it  mean  that  by  becoming  a 
new  creature  one  loses  his  identity  or  changes 
his  faculties.  Paul  was  a  new  creature  in  Christ, 
but  his  personality  was  the  same.  A  new  power 
had  come  in,  however,  to  reenforce  him. 

The  landscape  does  not  change  at  daybreak. 
The  hills  and  valleys  and  rills  and  rivers  are 
where  they  were,  but  the  night  is  gone  and  the 
world  is  beautiful.  It  is  a  change  something  like 
this  which  takes  place  in  the  soul  when  it  catches 
upon  it  the  glory  of  Him  who  is  the  Light  of 
men.  The  night  is  gone.  The  earth  is  what  it 
was  when  the  kisses  of  the  spring-time  and  the 
warm  caresses  of  the  summer  came  to  release  it 
from  the  lock  of  the  cold.  But  there  is  a  won¬ 
derful  transformation.  The  trees  are  full  of  song 
and  the  fields  are  daisied  and  emeralded.  Winter 
is  gone.  And  the  soul  kindles  with  a  passion  for 
Christ. 

Or  perhaps  a  better  illustration  is  the  wire 
along  the  street.  It  lacks  power  until  it  connects 
with  the  dynamo  ;  but  when  it  gets  into  the 
power  house,  the  wire  becomes  a  new  creature. 
It  is  the  same  in  size  and  shape  and  weight  that 
it  was,  but  it  is  charged.  When  a  man  enters 
Christ,  God  reenforces  him  with  omnipotence. 

It  means  to  be  free,  and  to  be  free  because  for¬ 
given.  It  means  to  have  the  sentence  of  con¬ 
demnation  for  sin  blotted  out.  What  a  change 


A  NEW  CREATURE 


95 


it  would  make  in  the  heart  of  the  criminal  who 
lingers  in  prison  under  an  impending  death 
sentence,  were  a  messenger  to  enter  the  cell  with 
a  pardon  and  say  :  u  You  are  free  !  ”  It  would 
mean  a  new  life  and  a  new  world.  But  such  a 
pardon  is  nothing  compared  to  that  God  gives 
the  sinner  when  in  the  name  of  Christ  He  says  to 
the  guilty:  u  Your  sins  are  forgiven  and  you 
are  free  !  ”  u  If  the  Son  shall  make  you  free,  ye 
shall  be  free  indeed. 7  7 

It  means  also  to  have  a  new  mind,  a  new  way 
of  interpreting  life,  a  new  way  of  thinking  about 
God  and  self  and  neighbour  and  duty.  It  means 
to  acquire  the  same  mind  that  was  in  Christ. 

It  is  what  people  see  in  life  that  makes  the  dif¬ 
ference.  What  they  see,  depends  on  the  kind 
of  mind  they  have.  A  new  mind  will  make 
God’s  word  a  new  book  and  His  world  a  new 
residence. 

It  means  also  to  have  a  new  heart.  One  feels 
different.  He  loves  some  things  he  hated,  and 
hates  some  things  he  loved.  The  heart  is  the 
centre.  Out  of  it  are  the  issues  of  life.  If  we 
could  get  the  heart  cured,  it  would  go  far  towards 
curing  us. 

God  is  the  only  physician  that  can  cure  heart 
trouble. 

Some  one  writes  of  the  Oregon7  s  accident  on  the 
China  coast,  when,  in  a  fog,  she  ran  on  the  rocks 
and  was  seriously  injured.  She  was  not  far  from 
important  Chinese  ports.  At  Canton  she  could 
have  been  repainted,  at  Shanghai  or  Chefoo  she 


96 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


could  have  gotten  fresh  provisions,  but  she  needed 
steel  plates  and  had  to  go  to  the  dry  dock  at 
Nagasaki,  Japan. 

There  are  many  things  one  can  do  for  himself, 
some  his  friends  can  do  for  him,  some  the  church  ; 
but  only  God  can  mend  the  heart.  He  is  saying 
to  every  sinner:  “Give  Me  thy  heart. ”  He 
wants  to  make  it  new  and  keep  it  safe. 

When  Napoleon  went  from  Egypt,  having  cap¬ 
tured  Joppa,  he  expected  to  make  short  work  of 
Acre,  but  the  Turks  despairing  of  holding  the 
town  themselves,  had  given  it  into  the  hands  of 
the  English.  For  two  months  the  French  troops 
bombarded  the  town,  but  they  did  not  capture 
Acre.  They  found  it  invested  with  a  force  they 
could  not  subdue.  God’s  plan  is  to  invest  the 
human  heart  with  Himself,  and  hold  it  safe 
against  the  assaults  of  the  enemy.  The  heart 
thus  occupied  becomes  an  impregnable  fortress. 

It  means  a  new  will.  The  trouble  with  many 
is  a  weak  will.  It  is  not  that  one  is  ignorant  of 
right  and  wrong,  but  he  has  no  resisting  power, 
and  when  temptation  comes,  his  weak  will  goes 
down  in  defeat.  God  renews  the  will.  Yonder 
in  the  freight  yard  stands  a  modern  steel  travel¬ 
ling  crane.  Its  capacity  is  twenty  tons.  Along 
the  horizontal  beam  runs  a  wheel  from  which 
hangs  a  big  chain,  ending  in  a  hook.  A  truck 
containing  twenty  tons  of  freight,  is  run  out- 
on  the  track.  It  stops  under  the  crane  and  a 
man  throws  a  switch  which  connects  the  crane 
with  the  storage  batteries,  and  the  chain  that  is 


A  NEW  CREATURE 


97 


alive  now,  lifts  and  deposits  its  twenty  tons  of 
freight  where  wanted,  as  easily  as  a  man  picks 
np  a  feather. 

If  a  man  can  charge  a  piece  of  cold  metal  with 
a  power  like  that,  shall  it  be  deemed  an  impos¬ 
sible  thing  for  God  to  charge,  so  responsive  a 
thing  as  the  human  will,  with  His  own  power  ? 

Free,  a  new  mind,  a  new  heart,  a  new  will  ! 
The  soul  is  becoming  a  new  creature.  Thus 
changed  it  does  not  make  much  difference  about 
the  conditions  of  the  market  or  weather,  of  work 
or  wages.  One  is  getting  where  he  can  succeed  in 
any  market  and  be  happy  in  any  climate. 

This  is  not  all.  It  means  to  acquire  a  new 
motive.  “The  love  of  Christ  constraineth  us. ” 
That  is  the  motive  of  one  who  is  a  new  creature 
in  Christ.  No  man  can  rise  higher  than  his 
motives.  Here  is  a  motive  that  comes  down  from 
the  ascended  and  reigning  Christ,  and  enters  the 
human  heart  and  lifts  it  to  victory. 

With  all  of  this,  to  be  a  new  creature  means  to 
live  a  new  life.  It  means  to  live  as  the  motive 
directs.  The  constraining  love  of  Christ  flows 
through  and  makes  its  own  channel,  so  that  : 
“We  thus  judge  that  one  died  for  all,  therefore 
all  died  ;  and  He  died  for  all,  that  they  that  live 
should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves,  but  unto 
Him,  who  for  their  sake  died  and  rose  again.”  1 

This  is  the  new  life.  It  is  the  life  a  man  lives 
who  has  become  new  in  Christ.  It  is  the  unsel¬ 
fish  life  of  service  and  sacrifice.  It  is  the  happy 

1  2  Cor.  5 : 14. 


98 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


life.  It  is  the  eternal  life  expressing  itself  in 
time. 

Some  are  unhappy  for  the  reason  that  an  over¬ 
fed  appetite  is  stale.  They  need  the  exercise  of 
service.  If  they  would  get  out  into  the  commu¬ 
nity,  under  the  motive  of  Christ’s  constraining 
love,  and  live  the  life  of  service  and  sacrifice,  ex¬ 
istence  would  cease  to  be  stale.  They  would  find 
the  secret  of  happiness. 

The  question  of  future  happiness  will  solve  it- 
sell.  The  great  question  is  not  how  to  get  to 
heaven,  but  how  to  have  and  be  heaven  here. 
Paul  was  not  worried  about  heaven.  He  was 
convinced  that  things  were  satisfactory  there. 
He  says  :  “We  know  that  if  the  earthly  house 
of  our  tabernacle  be  dissolved,  we  have  a  build¬ 
ing  from  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens.”  1 

There  need  be  no  fear  that  heaven  will  be  a  dis¬ 
appointment  ;  but  the  problem  is  how  to  live  a 
happy  and  triumphant  life  in  the  flesh,  u  for  we 
that  are  in  this  tabernacle  do  groan,  being  bur¬ 
dened  ;  not  for  that  we  would  be  unclothed  but 
clothed  upon.” 2  Paul  does  not  want  to  die, 
but  he  wants  to  acquire  the  secret  of  heaven  here. 
He  has  found  it.  He  says  :  u  Put  on  Christ  and 
Christ’s  life,  and  your  groans  will  change  to 
peans  of  praise,  your  burdens  will  become 
pinions.  ”  u  If  any  man  be  in  Christ  he  is 
a  new  creature.”  The  great  prayer  is  not  for  the 


1  2  Cor,  5:1. 


2  2  Cor.  5:4. 


A  NEW  CREATURE 


99 


climate  of  a  future  heaven,  but  for  the  pulses  of 
an  eternal  life  now  ancl  here. 

It  is  a  great  salvation.  It  is  great  in  its  length. 
It  will  last.  It  is  not  for  a  day  or  a  year  but  for 
eternity.  The  soul  thus  saved  will  never  lapse. 
It  may  fail  and  sometimes  fall,  but  it  will  never 
be  lost.  u  I  give  unto  them  eternal  life  and  they 
shall  never  perish,  neither  shall  any  pluck  them 
out  of  My  hand.” 

It  is  great  in  its  depth.  It  can  reach  to  the 
deepest  depths  of  human  sin  and  misery.  No 
case  is  hopeless.  It  is  as  easy  for  Christ  to  save 
the  worst  as  the  best  ;  just  as  it  is  as  easy  for  the 
sun  to  kill  the  blackest  as  the  whitest  night. 

It  is  great  in  its  height.  It  can  lift  into  fel¬ 
lowship  with  God.  It  can  elevate  sinners  into 
the  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Lord  Almighty. 


IX 


THE  INCARNATION 

“  Look  I  not  eye  to  eye  on  thee, 

And  feel’st  not,  thronging 
To  head  and  heart,  the  force, 

Still  weaving  its  eternal  secret, 

Invisible,  visible,  round  thy  life  ? 

Vast  as  it  is,  fill  with  that  force  thy  heart, 

And  when  thou  in  the  feeling  wholly  blessed  art, 
Call  it  then  what  thou  wilt,  — 

Call  it  Bliss !  Heart !  Love  !  God  ! 

I  have  no  name  to  give  it ! 

Feeling  is  all  in  all, 

The  name  is  sound  and  smoke, 

Obscuring  Heaven’s  clear  glow.” 

— Goethe. 

The  incarnation  was  the  highest  manifestation, 
in  time,  of  the  Eternal  in  man,  that  the  world 
has  seen.  It  was  a  great  hour  when  God  put 
His  creative  energy  into  flesh  and  made  a  man  ; 
but  it  was  a  greater  hour  when  God  put  Himself 
into  flesh  and  became  a  man.  This  was  the  in¬ 
carnation. 

It  was  a  new  role  for  the  Deity.  God  had 
never  done  anything  like  it  before. 

He  had  been  a  Creator,  He  now  becomes  a 
creature.  He  had  been  a  king,  He  now  becomes  a 
subject.  He  had  been  a  suecourer,  He  now  be¬ 
comes  a  sufferer.  He  had  been  a  protector,  He 

100 


THE  INCARNATION 


101 


now  becomes  persecuted,  hunted,  exposed.  He 
had  been  honoured,  worshipped,  obeyed,  adored  ; 
He  now  becomes  despised,  betrayed,  executed. 
He  is  slain,  hanged  on  a  cross,  laid  in  a  tomb, 
wept  over,  lamented,  mourned  as  dead.  He  had 
been  God,  He  now  becomes  man. 

It  was  a  strange  role,  an  unheard  of  procedure. 
Men  had  vaguely  dreamed  of  the  possibility  of 
such  a  thing,  but  they  had  never  seen  an  incar¬ 
nation  of  the  Deity.  It  looked  like  the  abdica¬ 
tion  of  the  Eternal.  It  was  as  if  God  had  sur¬ 
rendered  His  throne.  There  had  been  a  fall  of 
man.  Is  there  to  be  a  fall  of  God  ?  Heaven  had 
witnessed  man’s  fall  and  it  was  sad  enough.  Is 
it  to  witness  the  fall  of  God?  God  had  made 
man  and  man  had  sinned.  Now  God  seems  to  be 
following  in  man’s  footsteps.  It  looked  like  the 
defeat  of  the  Almighty. 

For  when  “  the  word  became  flesh”  and  the 
Creator  a  creature,  it  meant  for  God  to  empty 
Himself  of  those  powers  which  man  cannot  share 
with  Him,  whatever  they  are.  He  must  come 
down  to  the  knowledge  a  man  may  have,  to  the 
resources  a  man  may  possess.  He  must  limit 
Himself,  humble  Himself,  and  get  where  He  can 
be  tempted,  suffer  and  die.  If  not,  the  incarna¬ 
tion  is  only  an  imitation.  If  it  was  to  be  genuine, 
God  must  do  more  than  veneer  Himself  with 
human  nature  and  hide  His  godhood  behind  the 
face  of  a  man.  He  must  become  flesh.  This  He 
did  in  the  person  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

It  must  have  astounded  the  angels  when  God 


1@2 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


told  them  what  He  was  about  to  do.  At  first 
they  must  have  been  amazed  and  perplexed  be¬ 
yond  measure.  The  very  suggestion  that  God 
was  about  to  become  a  man  must  have  filled 
them  with  alarm  and  dismay  ;  for  they  knew  how 
man  had  blundered  and  wandered  and  rebelled. 
Perhaps  they  tried  to  protest.  They  were  willing 
for  anything  but  this.  Perhaps  like  Peter  later, 
some  high  angel  attempted  to  take  the  Deity  to 
task  for  rashness  and  said,  i  k  Lord,  this  be  far 
from  Thee.77  But  it  was  all  in  vain.  God  had 
made  up  His  mind  to  become  incarnate,  and  all 
angels  and  archangels  could  not  block  the  way. 
Then  perhaps  a  scene,  something  like  that  which 
John  describes  in  the  Revelation,  took  place. 
There  was  silence  in  heaven.  God  has  made  it 
plain  beyond  misunderstanding  that  He  is  about 
to  become  flesh  and  the  angels  are  voiceless. 
They  have  ceased  to  sing.  Their  harps  are  laid 
aside  and  they  are  dumb  with  mingled  astonish¬ 
ment  and  despair.  Heaven  seemed  tottering  on 
the  brink  of  chaos,  and  happiness  and  order 
hang  on  the  verge  of  the  abyss.  Ruin  stared 
their  world  for  God  was  about  to  leave  them  for 
a  cross  and  allow  the  universe  to  go  bankrupt. 

Then,  it  must  have  been,  that  God  revealed  to 
the  angels  something  of  what  the  incarnation 
meant.  He  showed  them  His  heart.  He  told 
them  of  His  longing  for  the  home-coming  of  His 
earthly  children,  who  had  gone  astray  and  who 
were  dwelling  far  down  below  that  happy  land 
of  light  and  love,  1 1  sitting  in  darkness  and  in  the 


THE  INCARNATION 


103 


shadow  of  death,”  the  prey  of  fears  and  the  vic¬ 
tims  of  evil.  For  the  first  time  into  listening  ears 
there  was  told  the  parable  of  the  prodigal  son. 
God  told  the  angels  what  later  Jesus  told  to  men. 
He  described  His  children  in  the  far  country,  and 
said,  u  I  am  going  after  them.  I  am  going  to 
seek  and  to  save  that  which  was  lost.” 

No  doubt  as  the  angels  began  to  comprehend 
the  wondrous  plan  and  take  in  all  the  incarnation 
expressed  of  love  and  yearning  in  the  great 
fatherly  heart  of  the  Deity  and  all  of  hope  and 
restoration  it  conveyed  to  fallen  man,  their  per¬ 
plexity  and  dejection  gave  way  to  holy  rapture. 
They  were  jubilant  with  praise.  Nothing  like 
this  had  ever  been  attempted  before.  It  was  not 
defeat  but  victory.  God  was  at  the  summit  of 
His  mercy  and  power  and  at  the  height  of  His 
wisdom  in  the  incarnation.  Nothing  but  the 
genius  of  God  could  have  devised  it.  Heaven 
resounds  with  a  new  song.  The  chorus  swells 
and  sweeps  and  rolls  its  holy  tide  of  celestial 
melody  so  high  and  wide  that  heaven  cannot  con¬ 
tain  the  song.  It  breaks  on  the  confines  of  earth, 
and  some  shepherds  watching  their  flocks  by 
night  catch  a  bar  of  the  great  anthem  of  the  an¬ 
nunciation  ;  and  listen  to  angels  singing  :  i  <  Glory 
to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth,  peace,  good 
will  towards  men.” 

The  Incarnation  Without  Precedent 

The  incarnation  was  unique,  original.  It  was 
not  merely  a  theophany,  a  spasmodic  display  of 


104 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


divinity.  It  was  God  in  the  flesh.  Jesus  stands 
solitary  and  alone  in  all  the  files  of  time.  The 
stupidity  which  would  classify  Him  and  make 
Him  one  of  a  kind  with  Buddha  and  Confucius 
and  Zoroaster  and  Mahomet  is  as  blind  as  it  is 
irreverent.  The  incarnation  was  not  a  foot-hill, 
a  swell  in  the  lofty  range,  but  a  solitary  peak 
whose  summit  is  out  of  sight. 

To  say  that  the  incarnation  was  miraculous  is 
not  to  say  very  much  about  it.  To  hold  up 
faith  in  the  incarnation  until  one  can  determine 
whether  miracles  are  credible  is  to  try  to  see  the 
heavens  through  a  key-hole.  From  the  human 
standpoint,  it  was  certainly  miraculous  j  but 
much  that  God  does  would  be  a  miracle  if  man 
were  required  to  do  it.  From  God’s  side,  how¬ 
ever,  there  was  nothing  miraculous  in  the  incar¬ 
nation.  It  was  no  harder  for  Him  to  become  a 
man  than  to  make  a  man. 

Given  God,  and  the  incarnation  was  as  easy  as 
light  and  as  natural  as  life. 

It  is  well  to  be  delivered  from  the  key-hole 
critics  who  affirm  the  non-existence  of  all  they 
do  not  see,  and  the  incredibility  of  all  they  do 
not  understand.  They  cannot  get  the  eternal 
into  their  perspective.  They  would  limit  God’s 
knowledge  to  their  cave,  His  activities  to  their 
corner,  and  His  glory  to  their  opacity.  They 
would  cancel  the  universe  they  cannot  measure. 
They  are  trying  to  manacle  Hercules  with  a  shoe 
lace.  If  God  wanted  to  become  flesh,  He  could. 
If  He  ever  made  up  His  mind  to  such  a  course^ 


I'wmrunwMil  mm  • 


THE  INCARNATION 


105 


the  incarnation  came  to  pass.  It  was  without  a 
precedent,  but  it  was  not  without  reality. 

The  Incarnation  a  Spiritual  Necessity 

If  the  incarnation  was  real,  it  was  a  great  risk 
for  God  to  take.  It  was  God  placing  Himself 
where  Adam  stood  before  he  fell.  It  was  the 
Creator  putting  Himself  into  His  theory  and  say¬ 
ing  :  “I  will  prove  if  it  be  possible  to  live  the 
eternal  life  in  time.  I  will  demonstrate  whether 
it  be  possible  to  dwell  in  the  flesh  and  not  sin.  I 
will  see  by  experience  whether  I  have  demanded 
too  much  of  My  creatures.” 

So  God  came  down  from  His  throne,  laid  aside 
His  authority  and  power,  shut  Himself  in  a 
human  body,  took  a  human  brain  and  senses  and 
appetites,  and  lived  where  Satan  could  get  at 
Him  as  easily  as  he  got  at  Adam. 

He  was  made  flesh.  He  was  made  what  any 
man  is,  except  sin.  He  was  made  to  be  weak, 
hungry,  tired,  lonely,  sad,  discouraged,  tear- 
stained,  sorrow-marked.  It  was  an  awful  risk. 
It  was  God  unarmed  meeting  His  enemy  in  the 
open.  Suppose  Jesus  had  failed  %  What  if  He 
had  yielded  to  temptation  and  gone  down  as 
Adam  ?  It  would  have  been,  not  the  ruin  of 
man,  but  the  downfall  of  the  Deity.  It  would 
have  been  the  ruin  of  the  God  of  gods.  It  would 
have  meant  hopeless  chaos  throughout  the  uni¬ 
verse.  No  wonder  heaven  watched  with  infinite 
concern  the  outcome  on  Calvary.  For  if  Christ 
had  failed,  there  could  have  been  no  gospel  of 


1G6 


THE  ETEKNAL  IN  MAN 


hope  for  fallen  man;  and  no  way  by  which  a 
ruined  soul  could  be  made  a  new  creature. 

The  risk  was  tremendous,  but  it  was  necessary. 
We  may  rest  assured  it  would  never  have  been 
taken  had  there  been  any  other  way  to  save  the 
lost. 

If  it  be  true  that  man  can  by  his  own  effort, 
recover  the  lost  image  of  godhood,  there  would 
have  been  no  incarnation. 

If  it  be  true  that  suffering  makes  a  saint  and 
discipline  creates  a  new  nature,  there  would  have 
been  no  incarnation. 

If  it  be  true  that  penitence  secures  salvation, 
and  that  remorse  for  evil  disarms  penalty,  God 
would  never  have  taken  the  risk  of  becoming 
flesh. 

The  incarnation  was  an  eternal  necessity.  It 
was  not  an  afterthought,  but  a  part  of  the  divine 
plan  from  the  foundation  of  the  world.  It  was 
necessary  for  man  and  for  God.  It  was  a  hard 
way,  but  if  God  had  been  unwilling  to  come,  if 
He  had  been  content  for  the  prodigal  to  remain 
in  the  far  country,  if  He  had  loved  His  throne 
more  than  His  lost  children,  He  could  never 
have  been  the  divinity  to  drive  from  man’ s  heart 
the  madness  of  sin  and  wake  to  vigorous  action 
the  atrophied  functions  of  a  palsied  soul. 

The  Incarnation  was  God’s  Climax 

It  was  God  making  His  way  to  us.  Sin  blocked 
the  way.  It  was  not  possible  for  God  to  get  past 
our  sins  until  the  law  demanding  their  punish- 


THE  INCARNATION 


107 


ment  was  satisfied.  God  suffered  the  penalty, 
satisfied  the  law,  and  got  sin  out  of  the  way.  He 
secured  the  sinner’s  justification.  This  is  the 
story  of  Calvary.  The  cross  was  God’s  way  of 
getting  past  man’s  sin.  It  was  the  second  glory 
of  the  incarnation.  After  proving  the  life  in  the 
flesh  livable,  His  next  stex^  was  to  reach  fallen 
man.  This  He  did  on  the  cross.  The  incarna¬ 
tion  was  essential  to  the  atonement.  It  was  God 
making  His  way  to  us. 

Then  it  was  God  making  His  way  within  us. 
Salvation  is  not  so  much  a  spectacular  as  it  is  an 
experience.  It  is  the  incarnate  in  a  reincarna¬ 
tion.  Again  He  becomes  flesh,  but  this  time  it 
is  our  flesh.  He  takes  up  His  residence  in  our 
brain,  senses,  activities.  Having  tied  Himself 
to  us  by  the  blood  of  the  race-kin,  He  ties  us  to 
Himself  by  imparting  to  us  the  divine  nature ; 
until  instead  of  saying,  u  Christ  was  in  Galilee,” 
We  say  :  u  Christ  is  in  Me,  and  He  is  in  Me  the 
hope  of  glory.” 

After  this,  it  is  God  making  His  way  through 
us.  The  eternal  in  man  must  be  given  expres¬ 
sion.  The  beautiful  life  of  the  Man  of  Galilee 
must  be  perpetuated  in  the  lives  of  His  fol¬ 
lowers  ;  His  loving  ministries  must  be  continued  ; 
His  holy  sacrifices  must  be  repeated  ;  until  it  will 
not  be  necessary  to  go  back  to  Bethlehem’s  cradle 
or  up  to  heaven’s  throne  to  find  Christ,  for  every 
man  who  trusts  and  loves  Him  shall  be  himself 
something  of  the  Christ. 

It  is  also  God  making  a  way  for  us.  The  in 


108 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


carnation  blazed  a  way  to  glory  for  all  who  follow 
in  Christ’s  steps. 

The  glorified  Christ  did  not  lay  aside  His  body 
when  He  ascended.  The  nail  prints  were  in  the 
hands  and  feet,  and  the  wound  of  the  spear  in 
the  side  of  that  transfigured  body  that  mounted 
from  the  slopes  of  Olivet  to  the  heights  of  glory. 

A  road  was  opened  then  by  which  the  re¬ 
deemed  body  can  travel.  Jesus  made  it  possible 
for  all  who  follow  Him,  having  the  print  of  the 
nails  and  the  sign  of  the  cross,  to  mount  the  in¬ 
visible  ladder  and  walk  erect  along  the  dizzy 
heights,  and  be  with  Him  in  the  glory. 

All  in  whom  Christ  dwells  will  share  His 
destiny.  Where  He  is  they  will  go.  Nothing 
can  hinder  them.  No  gate  nor  wall  nor  chasm 
can  stop  their  progress.  Even  death  must  play 
the  part  of  a  servant  to  open  the  door  to  glory  for 
them  of  whom  the  incarnate  God  has  said,  u  I  go 
to  prepare  a  place  for  you,”  for  God  became  man 
that  man  might  take  on  godhood. 


X 


GLORY  AND  SUFFERING 

“  But  all  through  life  I  see  a  cross, 

Where  sons  of  God  yield  up  their  breath ; 

There  is  no  gain  except  by  loss, 

There  is  no  vision  but  by  faith, 

Nor  justice  but  by  taking  blame ; 

And  that  Eternal  Passion  saith, 

Be  emptied  of  glory  and  right  and  name.” 

—  Olrig  Grange. 

We  are  disposed  to  place  glory  and  suffering 
as  far  apart  as  possible  and  regard  them  as  the 
antipodes  of  the  universe.  The  realm  of  the  re¬ 
deemed  we  call  u glory, ”  and  of  the  lost  “suffer¬ 
ing.”  The  glorified  are  those  who  have  forever 
escaped  suffering ;  the  damned,  those  eternally 
doomed  to  suffer. 

Human  life  concentrates  itself  in  the  effort  to 
escape  suffering.  It  is  the  search  for  a  painless 
process.  If  one  could  only  devise  some  method 
by  which  to  be  rid  of  suffering,  he  might  begin 
to  live.  Pain  prevents  happiness  and  suffering- 
spoils  life.  The  problem  of  the  sociologist  is  to 
prevent  suffering.  He  proposes  to  solve  his 
problem  by  preventing  the  things  which  produce 
suffering.  One  of  these  is  poverty  ;  so  he  pro¬ 
poses  to  cure  poverty  and  prevent  suffering. 
Another  is  industrial  injustice,  so  he  proposes  to 
right  the  wrongs  of  labour  and  prevent  suffering. 

109 


110 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Another  is  shiftlessness,  so  he  proposes  to  dimin¬ 
ish  shiftlessness  and  reduce  suffering. 

The  effort  is  laudable.  We  feel  that  suffering 
has  no  right  to  exist  if  it  can  be  prevented.  He 
is  a  benefactor  of  the  race  who  drives  pain  from 
the  world. 

In  view  of  all  this  it  is  rather  startling  to  find 
that  Christ,  who  is  man’s  hope  of  glory,  links 
glory  and  suffering  in  an  embrace  stronger  than 
life  and  more  lasting  than  death.  u  It  became 
Him,  for  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are 
all  things,  in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,  to 
make  the  author  of  their  salvation  perfect  through 
sufferings.”  1 

What  is  this  but  the  deification  of  suffering  ? 
Christ  deliberately  elected  to  suffer.  It  was  His 
choice,  His  sovereign  preference.  Could  the 
average  man  be  clothed  for  awhile  with  the 
authority  of  God,  his  first  endeavour  would  be  to 
eject  suffering  from  the  universe  and  terminate  its 
despotic  sway.  But  God,  so  far  from  preventing 
suffering,  seems  to  promote  it.  He  makes  it  the 
method  of  divine  procedure  in  His  most  stupen¬ 
dous  undertaking.  We  may  rest  assured  that 
the  eternal  in  man  is  not  the  experience  of  a 
painless  process. 

The  Glorious  Christ 

Men  may  denounce  the  system  which  proposes 
to  administer  Christ’s  cause.  They  may  repudi- 


1  Heb.  2  : 10. 


GLORY  AND  SUFFERING 


111 


ate  the  gospel  narrative  as  legendary.  They  may 
rebel  at  Christianity’s  demands,  and  brand  as 
false  much  that  is  put  forth  in  Christ’s  name. 
Many  things  catalogued  as  Christian  are  not 
glorious.  There  has  been  Christian  bigotry, 
priest-craft,  avarice,  hatred,  persecution,  blood¬ 
shed.  All  this  was  infamous ;  but  Christ  Him¬ 
self  is  glorious.  He  has  been  arts’  inspiration  and 
the  best  in  art  has  been  its  effort  to  portray 
Christ.  Were  history  asked  what  it  thinks  of 
Christ,  it  would  reply  :  “He  is  glorious”  ;  its 
greatest  epoch  is  the  Christian  era.  Were  litera¬ 
ture,  trade,  government  asked  for  their  opinion, 
they  would  make  the  same  reply.  The  latest  of 
the  sciences  must  have  His  approval.  Sociology 
claims  Christ.  Civilization  is  the  race  following 
in  His  footsteps.  This  is  the  more  amazing  when 
we  consider  the  facts  of  His  earthly  life.  There 
was  everything  to  make  Him  inconspicuous. 
Born  a  peasant  in  a  small  and  obscure  country, 
of  a  subject  people,  with  few  friends,  with  a  pub¬ 
lic  career  lasting  but  three  years,  never  outside 
the  land  of  His  birth  but  once,  scorned  by  His 
own  townspeople,  suspected  by  His  own  family, 
betrayed,  deserted  and  denied  by  His  disciples, 
dying  the  death  of  a  criminal,  apparently  Christ 
was  hopelessly  doomed  to  an  ignominious  ob¬ 
scurity.  Despite  all  He  is  the  glorious  Christ. 

“In  the  beauty  of  the  lilies,  Christ  was  born  aoross 
the  sea ; 

With  a  glory  in  His  bosom,  that  transfigures  you 
and  me,” 


112 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Infidelity  may  scoff  at  the  dogma  and  ritual  of 
the  Church,  but  it  respects  Christ.  It  may  curl 
its  lip  in  merited  scorn  at  philanthropists  and 
benefactors  who  seek  publicity,  but  there  is  no 
scorn  in  its  tone  when  it  speaks  of  the  Son  of 
Man. 

Wherein  consists  Christ7  s  glory  ? 

It  is  not  in  the  fact  that  He  ascended  to  heaven. 
He  is  glorious  anywhere.  He  would  be  glorious 
in  hell.  It  is  not  because  He  has  gotten  where 
the  pharisees  cannot  taunt  Him  nor  the  soldiers 
thrust  a  spear  into  His  side.  It  is  not  His  crown 
nor  His  throne. 

These  are  not  the  insignia  of  lasting  glory.  A 
king’s  crown  on  a  slave’s  head  does  not  make  the 
slave  royal.  A  white  robe  on  a  black  heart  does 
not  make  the  black  heart  clean.  A  saint’s  vest¬ 
ment  on  a  murderer  will  not  atone  for  his  crime. 
Position,  possession,  power  did  not  give  to  the 
peasant  of  Galilee  that  majestic  glory  which 
flamed  in  Pilate’s  judgment  hall  and  shone  on 
Calvary’s  cross.  It  was  not  what  He  did  that 
made  Christ  great.  He  seems  to  have  attached 
comparatively  little  importance  to  His  miracles. 
They  were  of  value  because  they  blessed  the 
needy.  Christ  proves  the  miracles  rather  than 
the  miracles  Christ. 

It  was  not  even  His  teachings  that  made  Him 
perfect.  They  were  faultless,  but  to  divorce  them 
from  Christ  is  like  draining  the  blood  from  the 
body.  They  lose  their  life-giving  quality. 

The  glory  of  Christ  is  Christ.  It  is  what  He 


GLORY  AND  SUFFERING 


113 


is.  It  is  His  spirit.  Beyond  all  creeds,  rules, 
rituals,  organizations,  He  is  the  world’s  supreme 
personality.  With  a  spiritual  capacity  as  high 
as  God’s  life  and  as  deep  as  man’s  need,  Christ 
possesses  the  power  to  bring  the  world  into  com¬ 
munion  with  God.  This  makes  Him  the  Author 
of  salvation,  revealing,  conferring,  developing 
and  directing  the  eternal  in  man,  and  for  this 
He  is  the  glorious  Christ. 

The  Imparted  Glory 

The  chief  glory  of  Christ’s  glory  is  that  He 
imparts  it.  It  is  communicable.  His  mission  is 
to  “bring  many  sons  unto  glory.”  His  is  not  a 
glory  to  be  gazed  at  as  a  far-off  and  impossible 
ideal.  Christ  is  not  merely  something  to  preach 
and  sing  and  wonder  about.  He  is  something  to 
be.  He  is  the  discovery  of  the  glory  that  is  pos¬ 
sible  for  every  man.  Christ  is  one  of  a  family. 
He  is  an  elder  brother.  The  promise  was  that 
He  should  “see  of  the  travail  of  His  soul  and  be 
satisfied.”  His  words  are  “all  that  the  Father 
giveth  unto  Me  shall  come  to  Me.”  His  glory 
is  for  all  who  come  ;  for  the  poorest  and  meanest ; 
for  sinners  as  guilty  as  the  woman  of  Samaria, 
as  avaricious  as  Zaccheus,  as  self-righteous  as 
Simon  the  Zealot.  The  glory  of  Christ  haloes 
the  least  and  worst  equally  with  the  best. 

Salvation  is  not  getting  to  heaven ;  it  is  get¬ 
ting  Christ,  it  is  having  one’s  nature  purified, 
broadened,  deepened,  enriched  by  the  life  of 
Christ.  It  is  not  merely  imitating  His  ways,  and 


114 


THE  ETEBNAL  IN  MAN 


shining  with  His  reflection.  It  is  sharing  His 
personality.  It  is  having  the  miracles  of  the  na¬ 
tivity,  the  resurrection  and  the  ascension  trans¬ 
pire  in  our  experience.  It  is  having  “Christ 
formed  within  us,  the  hope  of  glory.  v 

For  a  man  to  possess  this  is  for  him  to  acquire 
a  glory  criticism  cannot  dull  nor  infidelity  deride. 

The  Glory  Acquired  by  Suffering 

Jesus  was  no  seeker  after  a  painless  process. 
Isaiah’s  portrait  of  the  Messiah  is  that  of  a 
sufferer.  Jesus  suffered  temptation,  opposition, 
loneliness,  rejection,  struggle,  betrayal,  doubt, 
denial,  crucifixion.  He  lived  in  the  shadow  of 
the  cross.  His  moment  of  supreme  victory  was 
His  hour  of  unutterable  anguish,  when,  in  a  pas¬ 
sion  of  suffering  too  terrible  for  words,  He  cried, 
‘  1  My  God  !  My  God  !  Why  hast  Thou  forsaken 
Mef  ” 

“The  best  of  men 

That  e’er  wore  earth  about  him  was  a  sufferer  ; 

A  soft,  meek,  patient,  humble,  tranquil  spirit, 

The  first  true  gentleman  that  ever  breathed.  ’  ’ 1 

Yet  Christ  did  not  seek  suffering  for  its  own 
sake.  It  was  not  with  Him  an  exalted  method 
of  penance.  He  suffered  for  the  sake  of  His 
ideal,  in  order  to  bless  others.  For  this  reason 
His  sufferings  did  not  deject  Him.  He  gloried 
in  sufferings.  By  them  He  was  made  perfect. 
The  path  of  suffering  was  the  path  to  glory. 

1  Thomas  Dekker. 


GLOBY  AND  SUFFEBING 


115 


Had  His  been  a  life  of  ease,  He  could  not  help 
us.  Had  He  never  been  tempted,  He  would  be 
nothing  to  any  man  that  is  tempted.  Had  He 
lived  a  life  of  self-indulgence  He  would  possess 
no  capacity  to  save.  He  would  lack  idealism. 
He  grew  great  in  the  school  of  trial.  His  crown 
was  given  Him  on  a  cross.  He  found  deification 
in  death.  In  submitting  to  all  that  any  human 
life  may  suffer,  He  became  able  to  succour  all 
who  suffer. 

The  Glory  Imparted  as  Acquired 

The  man  who  is  to  share  Christ’s  glory  must 
acquire  it  in  Christ’s  way.  If  he  is  to  be  ex¬ 
alted,  he  must  humble  himself.  If  he  is  to  stand 
on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration,  he  must  walk 
through  the  vale  of  sorrows.  If  he  is  to  win  the 
crown,  he  must  endure  the  cross.  If  he  is  to 
know  “the  power  of  his  resurrection,”  he  must 
experience  “the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings.” 

It  is  in  this  school  the  soul  acquires  power  and 
develops  capacity.  It  is  not  through  ease  and 
applause  and  success  that  the  soul  awakes  but  by 
some  great  shock  that  staggers  existence  and 
sounds  the  alarm  to  the  life  fenced  in  by  the 
senses.  Sometimes  one  browses  like  a  contented 
animal,  on  the  bit  of  pasture  in  sight,  seeing 
little  and  seeking  little,  until  some  great  calamity 
overtakes  him,  some  crushing  sorrow,  some  sore 
misfortune.  Then  the  soul  awakens  and,  in  the 
school  of  suffering,  the  eternal  in  man  begins  to 
assert  itself. 


116 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Suffering  is  not  the  worst  thing.  There  is  one 
thing  worse.  It  is  not  to  suffer.  The  remorse 
of  the  criminal  is  hard  j  but  it  were  worse  to 
have  no  remorse  and  remain  a  criminal.  The 
school  of  suffering  is  the  school  of  glory.  As 
scraps  of  iron  are  thrown  into  the  furnace  and 
melted  and,  on  the  forge,  welded  and  hammered 
ouce  more  into  shape  and  use,  so  life  acquires 
new  powers  and  beauties  in  the  furnace  and  on 
the  forge  of  suffering.  The  scars  of  the  soldier 
are  not  to  his  shame.  They  are  his  glory. 

Suffering  is  not  a  scourge  in  the  hands  of  the 
Almighty.  It  is  not  the  Deity  wreaking  venge¬ 
ance  upon  helpless  creatures  for  their  disobe¬ 
dience.  God  is  not  a  deified  brute  clubbing  into 
submission  those  who  may  stand  in  His  way. 

It  is  not  a  scheme  by  which  to  accumulate 
merit  in  the  world  to  come,  on  the  theory  that 
those  who  take  life  rough  here  will  find  it  easy 
hereafter. 

It  is  not  a  school  of  compensation.  Emerson’s 
doctrine  of  compensation  falls  far  short  of  the 
Christian  doctrine  of  grace.  Compensation  is 
only  the  skimmed  milk  of  theology.  Grace 
offers  to  those  who  suffer,  not  bare  compensation 
but  glory. 

These  light  afflictions  shall  “work  out  a  far 
more  exceeding  and  eternal  weight  of  glory.” 

The  ability  to  suffer  is  a  divine  capacity.  It 
is  the  chance  to  grow.  It  is  the  opportunity  to 
enter  a  bigger  world,  to  become  perfect,  to  escape 
the  dust  and  achieve  the  spirit,  to  live  towards 


GLORY  AND  SUFFERING 


117 


the  heights  where  the  gates  swing  wider  and  the 
vision  dawns  fairer.  u  For  I  reckon  that  the  suf¬ 
ferings  of  this  present  time  are  not  worthy  to  be 
compared  with  the  glory  which  shall  be  revealed 
to  us  wards. 7  * 1 


1  Horn.  8  : 18. 


XI 


THE  STORM-WIND 

“  There  is  a  grandeur  in  the  soul  that  dares 
To  live  out  all  the  life  God  lit  within ; 

That  battles  with  the  passions  hand  to  hand, 

And  wears  no  mail,  and  hides  behind  no  shield  ;  — 
And  that  with  fearless  foot  and  heaven  turned  eyes 
May  stand  upon  a  dizzy  precipice, 

High  over  the  abyss  of  ruin  and  not  fall. 

—  Sara  J.  Clarke  Lippincott. 

If  glory  and  suffering  are  so  closely  related, 
some  light  seems  to  be  thrown  on  the  problem  of 
the  existence  of  evil,  for  suffering  and  sin  came 
to  man  on  the  same  day. 

It  is  an  old  question.  Why  did  not  God  make 
human  life  an  eternal  summer  sea  ?  Why  must 
its  quiet  ever  be  broken,  its  peaceful  rest  and 
happy  content  be  disturbed  ?  Why  did  not  the 
Almighty  tie  down  the  storm -wind  in  some  great 
cavern  of  a  dead  world,  somewhere  in  the  vast 
realm  of  His  universe  and  keep  it  forever  a  pris¬ 
oner?  Why  was  it  ever  allowed  to  break  its 
tether  and  come  forth  to  lash  the  calm  and  quiet 
surface  of  life’s  sea  into  peril,  and  cover  wild 
waves  with  wreckage  and  death  ? 

To  answer  this  question  is  to  answer  all  ques¬ 
tions.  If  one  can  answer  it,  he  can  solve  the  rid¬ 
dle  of  the  world  and  make  believing  as  cheap  and 
easy  as  seeing.  For  in  this  question  of  the  storm 

118 


THE  STOKM-WIND 


119 


wind  is  the  whole  problem  of  evil,  the  maddening 
mystery  of  suffering,  the  bewildering  perplexity 
of  trouble,  the  dark  and  awful  secret  of  the  pur¬ 
pose  of  punishment. 

An  old  Hebrew  poet  sings  :  u  He  commandeth 
and  raiseth  the  stormy  wind.”  1  His  theme  is 
life.  His  verse  is  an  artist’s  canvas.  He  shows 
us  a  ship  in  a  storm  at  sea.  We  behold  the 
white,  frightened  faces  of  the  people,  we  hear 
their  groans  and  moans  and  prayers,  we  see  their 
danger,  but  we  understand  that  it  is  a  picture  of 
human  life.  The  ship  is  a  soul  in  its  storm  - 
hours,  a  heart  in  its  trials  and  tragedies  and  sor¬ 
rows.  It  is  the  spirit  of  man  in  its  desperate 
agonies  and  despairs. 

We  know  what  it  means  for  we  have  felt  the 
storm- wind.  We  have  been  driven  by  its  deadly 
gales  and  tossed  on  the  crest  of  its  fierce  tumults. 
We  have  had  our  prayers  drowned  by  the  sullen 
roar  of  its  awful  tempests.  We  have  been 
drenched  by  its  icy  spray.  We  have  gazed  into 
the  dull  face  of  its  gray,  leaden  sky  ;  and  have 
been  terrified  by  its  wild  alarms,  its  hopelessness. 

The  Peoblem  of  the  Stoem-Wikd 

Who  has  not  asked  Why?  Why  the  storm- 
wind  instead  of  the  summer  sea  ?  Why  peril  in¬ 
stead  of  safety?  Why  trial  and  sorrow  and 
struggle  and  grief  and  anguish  and  perpetual 
unrest  ? 

Why  does  God  give  man  a  stormy  passage? 

1  Ps.  107:25. 


120 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Why  has  He  given  to  human  life  the  experience 
of  suffering  ?  Why  did  not  God  fix  this  world  so 
that  evil  would  be  impossible  ?  Why  did  He  not 
decree  that  none  should  ever  sin  and  consequently 
that  none  should  ever  suffer  ?  Why  not  a  world 
with  no  sickness  and  no  pain  and  never  the  sob 
of  sorrow  nor  the  shriek  of  fear  as  the  storm- wind 
drives  the  boat  on  the  rocks  ? 

It  is  the  question  we  are  constantly  asking. 
We  may  keep  it  from  our  lips,  but  we  cannot 
drive  it  from  our  minds  nor  banish  it  from  our 
hearts. 

The  mystery  of  the  storm- wind  is  the  riddle  of 
the  universe.  The  origin  of  evil  is  the  night 
whose  blackness  refuses  to  lift.  If  I  could  under¬ 
stand  the  storm -wind,  I  could  fathom  God.  If  I 
could  fathom  God  ;  if  I  could  drop  plummet  and 
strike  bottom  in  the  divine  nature  and  say  :  u  I 
have  measured  the  Almighty  ;  I  know  His  height 
and  depth  and  length  and  breadth,”  that  instant 
I  should  lose  God.  God  must  ever  be  beyond  us, 
dwelling  in  a  mystery  that  can  be  entered  only 
by  a  blindfolded  soul  willing  to  trust  where  it 
cannot  trace,  to  believe  what  it  cannot  see. 

Nevertheless  we  need  not  be  lost  in  the  laby¬ 
rinths  of  the  mystery.  Faith  in  the  midst  of  the 
storm  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  credulity  in 
the  midst  of  a  fog.  There  are  certain  landmarks 
which  do  not  disappear  even  when  the  storm-wind 
blows.  We  cannot  understand  the  origin  of  evil 
nor  the  mystery  of  suffering,  but  there  are  certain 
great  facts  we  can  lay  hold  of  and  by  means 


THE  STORM -WEST) 


121 


thereof  keej)  hope  alive  even  when  the  tempest  is 
at  its  worst. 


The  Landmarks 

Let  at  least  three  of  these  outstanding  facts  be 
mentioned.  The  first  is  that  in  order  to  growth 
of  character  and  spiritual  development,  it  was 
necessary  to  make  man  a  free  moral  agent.  For 
this  freedom  to  be  real  it  must  include  the  ability 
to  choose  evil  no  less  than  good.  The  ability  to 
choose  evil  made  possible  sin  and  all  its  resultant 
sufferings.  Therefore  the  possibility  of  evil  in 
human  life  is  the  price  God  paid  for  that  freedom 
which  makes  possible  spiritual  growth.  It  was 
not  possible  for  even  God  to  buy  this  freedom  for 
less.  This  is  the  first  fact.  We  are  free  that  we 
may  grow  ;  but  freedom  makes  evil  possible.  It 
sets  loose  the  storm- wind. 

The  second  fact  is  that  if  God  is  to  govern  the 
world,  He  must  govern  it  by  law.  To  violate 
law  is  to  create  penalty.  A  law  whose  violation 
does  not  involve  penalty  is  not  a  law,  but  a  pre¬ 
cept.  To  say  that  God  inflicts  the  penalty  is  to 
tell  the  truth  in  a  roundabout  way.  It  is  merely 
to  recognize  the  law -giver.  He  is  responsible  for 
the  punishment  only  as  law  is  responsible  for 
penalty.  There  would  be  no  penalty  were  there 
no  broken  law.  It  is  the  criminal  rather  than 
the  law  that  is  at  fault. 

The  third  fact  is  that  back  of  all  penalty  and 
punishment  and  suffering  is  God  Himself,  and 
God  is  love.  This  is  His  nature,  and  this  is  the 


122 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


world’s  guarantee  that  in  the  mystery  dwells  a 
friendly  presence,  and  that  out  of  suffering  good 
will  come.  It  is  the  belief  that,  after  all,  the 
storm- wind  is  a  harbinger  of  hope.  It  is  the 
eternal  faith  of  the  race,  whether  on  the  rack,  in 
the  dungeon,  amid  the  billows,  or  on  the  quiet 
summer  sea,  that 

“ - good  will  fall 

At  last  far  off,  at  last  to  all, 

And  every  winter  turn  to  spring.  ’ ? 

It  is  the  holy  conviction  that  1  ‘  all  things  work 
together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God  j  to  them 
who  are  the  called  according  to  His  purpose.” 
To  let  go  that  faith  is  to  lose  God  and  to  find 
existence  intolerable. 

Holding  to  these  three  great  facts  one  can  at 
least  rest  in  the  conviction  that  sin  did  not  elimi¬ 
nate  and  destroy  all  that  was  eternal  in  man. 
Had  this  been  the  case,  there  would  have  been 
no  suffering,  for  there  would  have  been  nothing 
left  to  suffer.  A  creature,  the  totality  of  whose 
being  is  a  nerve  cell,  cannot  pay  sin’s  penalty. 
The  penalty  is  God’s  way  of  dealing  with  an 
immortal  being. 

The  Storm- Wind  is  a  Divine  Product 

God  is  its  author. 

He  is  not  the  author  of  evil.  It  will  never  do 
to  harbour  for  an  instant  that  suspicion  against 
God.  It  slanders  the  Deity.  God  is  against  evil. 
He  always  has  been  and  always  will  be.  His 


THE  STORM- WIND 


123 


business  is  to  drive  evil  out  of  the  world,  to  ex¬ 
terminate  it.  God  is  at  war  with  evil.  His  entire 
force  is  in  the  field  in  this  conflict.  It  is  a  glori¬ 
ous  cause  for  even  the  Almighty  to  champion. 
He  will  not  fail.  God  is  fighting  and  the  victory 
is  sure. 

While  God  is  not  the  author  of  evil,  He  is  the 
author  of  the  punishment  of  evil.  He  is  always 
in  control.  We  say  that  the  man  who  is  locked 
behind  prison  bars  has  broken  the  law.  The 
fact  is  the  law  is  intact,  it  is  the  transgressor  that 
is  broken.  It  is  so  in  the  realm  of  the  moral  and 
the  spiritual.  God  never  abdicates.  The  reins 
never  slip  from  His  hands.  When  evil  days 
come,  God  has  not  been  thwarted.  Evil  will 
never  be  able  to  subdue  nor  evade  Him.  In 
some  mysterious  way,  it  will  be  made  to  praise 
Him. 

God  is  in  the  storm  as  well  as  in  the  calm  ;  in 
the  sorrows  as  well  as  in  the  joys  ;  in  loss  as  well 
as  in  gain ;  in  death  as  in  life.  One  must  be¬ 
lieve  this,  whether  or  not  he  can  believe  any 
more. 

We  must  not  give  up  faith  in  a  divine  friend 
and  helper  when  the  storm-wind  blows.  If  we 
listen  we  shall  hear  His  voice ;  if  we  look  we 
shall  see  His  face.  TIis  voice  may  be  hoarse 
with  the  note  of  the  tempest,  His  caress  may  be 
rough  with  the  violence  of  the  warrior,  but  it  is 
God,  and  God  is  love. 


124 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Is  God  the  Author  of  the  Storm- Wind 
When  It  Destroys? 

Sometimes  the  storm- wind  destroys.  Is  it  a 
divine  product  then  ?  There  are  some  whose  suf¬ 
ferings  make  them  no  better.  They  sin  and 
suffer,  and  sin  again  and  suffer  more,  and  con¬ 
tinue  to  sin  and  suffer,  until  evil  destroys  them. 
Some  never  get  in  sight  of  the  harbour  lights. 
They  go  to  pieces  on  the  rocks,  and  never  come 
to  anchor  in  the  desired  haven.  What  of  the 
drunkard  who  dies  in  a  debauch  ?  What  of  the 
criminal  who  is  killed  committing  crime  ?  What 
of  the  prodigal  who  never  comes  back  from  the 
far  country?  What  of  the  soul  that  rejects  God, 
denies  God,  and  goes  out  apostate  into  the  ever¬ 
lasting  darkness?  What  of  the  people  whose 
troubles  drive  them  from  God?  Is  there  any 
beneficent  purpose  in  this  ? 

I  have  no  answer ;  I  am  dumb  before  this  as¬ 
pect  of  suffering.  It  is  easy  to  theorize  and  spec¬ 
ulate.  It  is  not  difficult  to  say  that  the  majesty 
of  the  law  must  be  maintained ;  that  an  infinite 
offense  demands  an  infinite  penalty,  that  eternal 
crime  creates  an  eternal  dungeon.  But  what  is 
all  this  save  words  that  darken  counsel  ?  They 
may  satisfy  the  reason,  but  they  do  not  heal  the 
hurt  of  an  aching  heart.  For  after  all,  our  con¬ 
viction  is  that  this  universe  is  not  so  much  a 
huge  court-room  as  our  Father’s  house ;  and  we 
are  not  so  much  jail  inmates,  haled  forth  from 
our  cells  to  the  prisoner’s  dock  to  stand  trial,  as 
members  of  our  Father’s  family ;  unworthy,  iiii- 


THE  STORM-WIND 


125 


perfect,  undeserving  members ;  but  for  all  that, 
held  in  a  deathless  love. 

One  may  have  no  answer  to  the  terrible  ques¬ 
tion  an  anguished  heart  asks  concerning  those 
whom  suffering  seems  to  destroy  :  but  he  need 
not  surrender  his  faith  in  God  because  he  cannot 
understand  all  His  ways,  or  be  able  to  see  the 
divinity  in  a  storm-wind  that  drives  a  soul  on 
the  rocks.  This  is  God’s  problem.  He  is  great 
enough  to  handle  it.  He  will  handle  it  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all  who  sail  the  seas  of  life.  We 
may  leave  it  with  Him  and  trust  Him  to  make 
this  horrible  nightmare  of  the  race  “as  a  dream 
when  one  awaketh,”  in  that  morning  when  we 
shall  see  Him  face  to  face  and  know  as  we  are 
known. 

The  Story  of  the  Storm- Wind  as  a 

Saviour 

There  is  another  side  to  the  subject.  It  is  the 
story  of  the  storm-wind  as  a  saviour.  It  is  always 
this  to  those  who  have  the  Pilot  on  board.  The 
suffering  of  God’s  children  ;  the  troubles  of  those 
who  trust  Him  ;  the  wreck  and  loss,  the  cold  and 
night,  the  pain  and  anguish  of  all  in  the  tempest 
with  Christ,  is  part  of  a  holy  discipline. 

It  develops  the  heroic.  The  people  who  never 
suffer  have  no  chance  to  be  heroes.  Heroism  is 
born  of  conflict  and  peril.  The  heroic  in  God 
is  His  age-long,  eternal  conflict  with  evil.  The 
Lamb  of  God  was  slain  from  the  foundation  of 
the  world.  If  there  had  never  been  an  enemy 


126 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


there  could  never  be  a  battle-field.  If  there  had 
been  no  battle-fields,  there  could  be  no  heroes. 

One  summer  Sunday  ten  thousand  men  and 
women  lined  the  shore  at  Atlantic  City,  and  rent 
the  air  with  tumultuous  cheers  as  Captain  Mark 
Casto,  lashed  to  the  wheel  of  his  fishing  schooner, 
with  his  brave  companions  rode  out  on  a  wild 
sea  to  rescue  sixty- nine  people  from  the  doomed 
Clyde  liner,  Cherokee,  stranded  on  the  Brigantine 
shoals.  It  was  magnificent  heroism  because  that 
little  company  rode  out  before  the  storm-wind  to 
what  seemed  certain  death.  Had  the  sea  been 
quiet,  there  would  have  been  no  cheers. 

The  roar  of  the  storm -wind  is  the  tumult  of 
conflict  and  struggle.  It  is  the  shout  of  the  God 
of  glory  as  He  makes  pigmies  into  giants  ;  weak, 
tempted,  struggling  men  and  women  into  heroes. 

Again,  the  peril  enhances  deliverance  and 
makes  possible  the  enjoyment  of  safety.  One 
who  has  never  been  in  peril  has  no  appreciation 
of  safety.  The  people  who  have  had  no  storms, 
take  fair  weather  as  a  matter  of  course.  Those 
men  who  were  rescued  from  the  Cherokee  walked 
the  shore  with  feelings  far  different  from  any 
they  had  ever  had  before.  They  enjoyed  the 
land.  One  of  their  number  declared  that  before 
their  brave  rescuers  reached  them,  they  had 
ceased  to  hope.  The  men  had  fallen  to  their 
knees  muttering  prayers  for  mercy,  the  women 
lay  around  the  cabin  moaning  and  distracted. 
They  believed  they  must  die.  But  now  they  are 
saved !  They  are  on  land  again.  The  solid 


THE  STORM-WIND 


127 


earth  is  beneath  their  feet,  and  the  joy  of  their 
deliverance  is  so  great  that  they  could  prostrate 
themselves  upon  the  ground  and  kiss  the  sands. 

It  is  so  in  a  man’s  relations  to  God.  He  does 
not  prize  His  care  until  the  storm  breaks.  We 
take  God’s  goodness  as  a  matter  of  course  until 
we  are  in  the  peril  of  some  blinding  tempest,  the 
awful  shock  of  some  terrible  tragedy.  Then  i  1  we 
cry  to  the  Lord  in  our  trouble  and  He  bringeth 
us  out  of  our  distresses.  He  maketh  the  sea  a 
calm,  so  that  the  waves  thereof  are  still.  Then 
are  we  glad  because  they  be  quiet.”  We  have 
discovered  the  value  of  holy  deliverance.  The 
Saviour  is  precious.  The  storm  has  shown  us 
the  face  of  God. 

Suffering  also  develops  the  capacity  of  the 
soul.  It  enlarges  one’s  nature.  It  breaks  down 
the  barriers  which  separate  us  from  one  another. 
It  gets  us  out  of  selfish  isolations  and  enables  us 
to  live  a  world-life.  The  people  who  have  never 
suffered  are  ill-prepared  to  sympathize  with 
others. 

Some  one  writes  of  an  island  whose  shores  are 
washed  by  silver  and  turquoise  seas,  whose  air  is 
filled  with  the  fragrance  of  blooming  flowers  and 
with  the  music  of  the  wfinds  and  the  song  birds  ; 
but  the  island  is  uninhabited,  for  it  has  no  har¬ 
bour.  High  sand  cliffs  or  dangerous  rocks  girt 
it  around  and  make  impossible  the  landing  of 
any  vessel.  One  day  a  great  tidal  wave  rolls  in 
from  the  outer  sea,  and  a  mighty  earthquake 
shakes  the  island  from  centre  to  circumference. 


128 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


The  cliffs  of  sand  crumble  and  a  great  gash  is  cut 
in  the  island’s  side,  into  which  the  waters  rush 
and  form  a  bay  that  calls  to  the  open  sea.  Great 
ships  come  and  drop  anchor  there.  A  populous 
city  springs  up  along  the  shores,  the  fields  are 
farmed,  and  the  air  resounds  with  the  shouts  of 
children  and  the  chimes  of  bells.  The  storm  has 

j  - 

given  the  island  a  harbour. 

The  story  is  all  fiction,  says  the  Southern  girl 
who  writes  it,  until  we  call  the  island  the 
u  Heart  ”  and  the  tidal  wave  “  Sorrow.” 

Our  storms  are  harbour  builders.  They  open 
quiet  bays  in  our  experience,  restful  havens  that 
call  to  mariners  on  the  open  sea,  and  into  which 
human  barques  “  tossed  on  life’s  wide  restless 
main,”  worn  with  the  voyage  and  in  need  of  sup¬ 
plies,  may  drop  anchor  for  a  little  while  and  get 
fixed  to  continue  the  voyage. 

The  storm- wind  is  also  God’s  way  of  opening 
up  the  life  for  His  own  entrance.  There  are  some 
fastenings  that  must  be  shaken  loose.  There  are 
some  shutters  that  must  be  battered  open.  There 
are  bolts  that  will  yield  only  to  the  fury  of  the 
storm,  and  chambers  that  can  be  entered  only 
with  the  gales  of  the  tempest.  Is  it  not  better  to 
have  God  come  in  thus  than  not  at  all  ?  Better 
a  divinity  that  rides  into  the  soul  on  the  crest  of 
the  breakers  than  to  be  without  God.  Better  a 
hope  that  sobs  its  way  into  the  heart  than  to 
have  no  presence  that  is  sacramental. 

Is  there  not  also  such  a  thing  as  being  beaten 
into  port  by  the  storm -wind?  Is  there  not  some 


THE  STORM- WIND 


129 


connection  between  suffering  and  that  eternal  ex¬ 
perience  for  which  the  soul  aspires  %  One  may 
not  say  that  immortality  is  wrought  out  by  suf¬ 
fering  ;  but  may  he  not  say  that  the  capacity  for 
suffering  is  a  sign  of  immortality,  and  in  some 
strange  way  inseparable  from  it  ? 

In  the  Smithsonian  Institute,  at  Washington, 
are  the  remains  of  huge  animals  that  ages  ago 
roamed  the  earth.  They  were  armed  with  tre¬ 
mendous  members  for  attack  and  defense.  Their 
hides  were  like  steel  plates  on  a  battle-ship,  well 
nigh  impervious.  These  huge  beasts  have  be¬ 
come  extinct.  They  had  no  capacity  for  suffer¬ 
ing.  Their  nerves  were  completely  covered  and 
protected.  What  seemed  their  security  sealed 
their  doom.  Their  place  has  been  taken  by  frailer 
animals,  whose  nerves  are  more  exposed  and 
whose  capacity  for  suffering  is  greater. 

Of  all  God’s  creatures,  man  has  the  greatest 
capacity  for  pain.  His  nerves  are  all  on  the  out¬ 
side.  To  him  alone  of  all  God’s  creatures  is 
given  the  hope  of  eternal  life. 

In  some  strange  way  the  storm- wind  and  the 
final  port  are  friends.  Suffering  and  immortality 
go  together.  If  there  were  no  trouble,  there 
would  be  no  eternal  peace  ;  if  no  stormy  voyage, 
no  quiet  haven  ;  if  no  agony  and  anguish,  no 
divine  fellowship. 

It  looks  as  if  God  can  get  man  into  that  high 
port  of  the  infinite,  only  with  the  gales  of  a 
tempest,  and  so  u  He  commandeth  and  raiseth 
the  stormy- wind.” 


130 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Blessed  storm- wind  !  Wind  from  the  higher 
levels  and  the  upper  heavens  !  Wind  with  the 
strong  gales  of  God’s  relentless  love  in  thy  breath  ! 
Wind  with  the  tumultuous  passions  of  eternal 
yearning  in  thy  caress  !  Wind  with  the  moan 
and  anguish  of  pain,  with  the  roar  and  shout  of 
war,  but  with  the  music  of  many  waters,  and  the 
lap  of  the  crystal  sea  in  thy  lullaby  !  O  mighty 
storm-wind  from  across  the  boundless  ocean  of 
God’s  infinite  purpose,  have  thy  way  with  me  ! 

“Winnow  me  through  with  thy  keen,  clean  breath, 
Wind  with  the  tang  of  the  sea  ! 

Speed  through  the  closing  gates  of  the  day, 

Find  me  and  fold  me  and  have  thy  way, 

And  take  thy  will  of  me  ! 

‘  ‘  Use  my  soul  as  you  used  the  sky  — 

Gray  sky  of  this  sullen  day ; 

Clear  its  doubt  as  you  sped  its  wrack 
Of  storm-cloud  bringing  its  splendour  back 
Giving  it  gold  for  gray. 

“  Batter  the  closed  doors  of  my  heart, 

And  set  my  spirit  free  ! 

For  I  stifle  here  in  this  crowded  place, 

Sick  for  the  tenantless  fields  of  space, 

Wind  with  the  tang  of  the  sea  !  ”  1 


1  Arthur  Ketcbam. 


XII 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  GOOD 

“  No  man  may  say  at  night 
His  goal  is  reached ;  the  hunger  for  the  light 
Moves  with  the  star;  our  thirst  will  not  depart, 

Howe’er  we  drink.  ’Tis  what  before  us  goes, 

Keep  us  aweary,  will  not  let  us  lay 
Our  heads  in  dreamland,  though  the  enchanted  palm 
Rise  from  our  desert,  though  the  fountain  grows 
Up  in  our  path,  with  the  slumber’s  flowing  balm  ; 

The  soul  i  o’er  the  horizon  far  away.” 

— John  James  Piatt. 

Some  one  has  written  the  story  of  a  dog  and 
called  it  u  The  call  of  the  wild.”  It  is  the  tale 
of  how  a  dog,  under  wanton  abuse  and  brutal 
mistreatment,  lost  every  trace  of  gentleness  and 
went  back  to  the  wild  life  of  his  beast  ancestors 
and  became  a  wolf.  There  is  a  great  sermon  in 
the  dog  story.  It  is  the  narrative  of  how  fallen 
human  nature,  under  the  baleful  influences  of  sin 
and  evil  association,  loses  its  nobility,  and  fol¬ 
lowing  the  call  of  the  wild,  goes  back  to  the 
beast.  It  is  the  tragic  and  pathetic  story  of  an 
immortal  soul  dying  down  into  animalism. 

Some  one  else  has  written  the  story,  not  of  a 
dog,  but  of  a  soul,  and  we  may  call  it,  not  “The 
call  of  the  wild,”  but  “  The  call  of  the  good.” 
It  is  the  tale  of  how  a  soul  under  the  spell  of 
divine  love’s  gentle  entreaties,  hears  the  call  of 
a  celestial  ancestry  and  breaking  away  from  the 

131 


132 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


beast  life,  becomes  a  child  of  God.  There  is  a 
greater  sermon  in  the  soul  story  than  in  the  dog- 
story.  It  is  the  narrative  of  how  fallen  human 
nature  gets  back  its  heavenly  heritage.  It  is  the 
stirring  record  of  an  immortal  soul  getting  back 
among  its  kindred  and  recovering  its  birthright. 

The  call  of  the  good  is  an  older,  earlier,  and 
higher  call  than  the  call  of  the  wild.  It  should 
have  the  right  of  way.  Man’s  start  was  not  in 
the  lair  of  a  wild  beast,  but  in  the  bosom  of  the 
divine  Father.  God  made  man  in  His  image. 
Man  was  a  saint  before  he  was  a  sinner,  and 
when  he  goes  back  to  his  own  he  is  not  going  into 
bestiality  and  sensuality  and  animalism,  but  into 
the  divine  nature.  God  made  us  like  Himself, 
and  through  all  our  waywardness  what  we  were 
when  God  thought  of  us  first  is  calling,  pleading, 
beseeching. 

Many  are  listening  to  the  call  of  the  wild, 
going  away  from  the  good,  being  deformed,  get¬ 
ting  further  and  further  from  purity,  integrity, 
sobriety  j  less  Godlike,  more  beast-like.  Their 
friends  see  the  change  and  are  disappointed. 
Their  acquaintances  notice  it  and  are  surprised. 
Those  who  love  them  see  it  and  are  broken¬ 
hearted.  God  looks  down  and  with  infinite  pity 
and  concern  calls  them  to  turn  from  evil  ways. 

It  Hurts  God  When  Man  Goes  Wrong 

The  call  of  grace  is  a  sob  of  divine  love  over  a 
human  life  going  to  the  bad.  God  is  disap¬ 
pointed  in  His  own.  He  made  man  for  better 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  GOOD 


138 


things  than  to  be  the  slave  of  sin  and  to  wear  the 
livery  of  lust.  When  he  yields  to  temptation 
and  stifles  the  good  voice  of  conscience,  and 
abuses  his  body,  and  wastes  his  opportunities 
and  makes  himself  cheap  and  common  in  the 
markets  of  evil,  God  is  hurt. 

It  is  no  pleasure  to  God  to  punish  people  who 
do  wrong.  Righteousness  demands  that  sin  be 
sufficiently  punished,  but  God  is  not  of  the  kind 
that  gets  happiness  from  administering  an  ade¬ 
quate  penalty  to  evil-doers.  There  is  such  a 
thing  as  “the  death  of  the  wicked.”  Every 
death  sin  causes,  hurts  God  and,  across  the  barren 
and  unmarked  graves  of  souls  slain  by  sin,  God 
calls  to  arrest  man  in  the  career  of  evil. 

What  if  God  were  not  hurt  by  man’s  sin  f 
Suppose  it  were  nothing  to  God  how  man  lives ; 
whether  he  be  good  or  bad,  saint  or  beast,  son  of 
light  or  degraded  outcast  ?  Could  we  care  for  a 
God  that  would  let  us  go  to  hell,  and  never  sound 
a  warning  nor  lift  a  hand  to  stay  our  course  ? 

Suppose  earthly  parents  were  of  the  kind  not  to 
care  when  their  children  do  wrong?  What 
would  a  son  think  of  his  mother  were  she  to  de¬ 
clare  that  it  is  nothing  to  her  whether  he  be  vir¬ 
tuous  or  vicious,  upright  or  criminal  ?  What 
kind  of  a  father  would  that  be  who  would  say  of 
a  wayward  son  :  “  Let  him  go  to  hell,  if  he  will  ; 
it  is  his  own  funeral.”  One  could  not  care  for 
such  parents.  Respect  would  turn  to  scorn  for  a 
father  who  could  be  indifferent  as  to  whether  his 
son  rise  or  fall.  Love  would  become  bitter  re- 


134 


THE  ETEBNAL  IN  MAN 


sentment  against  a  mother  that  has  no  anguish 
over  a  child  going  to  the  bad.  God  is  a  good 
father.  He  is  not  deified  indifference  and  uncon¬ 
cern.  It  hurts  Him  when  we  are  bad. 

I  am  glad  it  does.  I  am  glad  God  can  feel.  I 
rejoice  that  He  is  not  a  stone,  a  heartless  law,  a 
blind  decree,  an  arbitrary  force.  I  love  that  story 
of  Jesus  weeping  over  guilty  Jerusalem,  and  cry¬ 
ing  out  in  mingled  grief  and  disappointment, 
u  O  Jerusalem,  Jerusalem,  how  often  would  1 
have  gathered  thee  ! 7  7  When  I  do  wrong,  I  am 
glad  that  God  cares,  and  that  my  sins  hurt  Him 
enough  for  His  love  to  cry  out  after  me. 

It  hurts  God  when  we  do  wrong.  One  may  say  : 
“What  of  it?  He  is  God.  He  can  stand  it. 
Why  should  man  worry  over  God’s  troubles  ? 77 

There  is  another  element  in  wrong-doing. 

It  Also  Hurts  Man  When  He  Goes  Wrong 

The  call  of  the  good  is  a  tame  song  to  many. 
Goodness  is  monotonous.  It  has  such  a  homely 
face  and  such  uninteresting  ways.  There  is  no 
dash  nor  excitement  nor  colour  in  goodness. 
Good  people  tire  us.  Being  good  bores  us.  We 
want  to  eat  the  apples  of  Sodom  and  drink  the 
wine  of  lust  and  be  bad.  We  are  great  fools. 
The  devil  has  an  easy  time  making  us  rise  to  his 
naked  hook. 

Doing  wrong  is  damage  against  which  there  is 
no  insurance.  To  sin  is  to  suffer.  To  yield  to 
lust  is  to  sink.  Sin  is  the  suicide  of  character. 
It  kills  the  good  in  man. 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  GOOD 


135 


A  life  changes  under  the  influence  of  evil.  It 
is  the  process  of  deformation.  All  generous  and 
noble  impulses  depart.  Gentleness  and  consider¬ 
ateness  and  patience  and  good-will  and  unselfish¬ 
ness  are  driven  into  retreat,  and  in  their  stead 
come  the  traits  of  the  beast,  meanness  and  sour¬ 
ness  and  smallness  and  petulance  and  surliness 
and  gnawing  discontent.  The  disposition  com¬ 
pletely  changes.  People  say  :  1  ‘  He  is  not  the 
same  man,”  and  he  is  not.  The  good  in  him  has 
been  killed.  Nobility  has  been  dethroned,  and 
animalism  rules. 

We  are  unwilling  to  confess  to  this  disintegra¬ 
tion  of  character.  We  are  reckless  of  the  dam¬ 
age,  and  call  red  ruin  1 1  a  good  time. 7  7 

We  do  not  care  to  be  preached  to.  We  know 
our  schedule  and  are  willing  to  take  the  conse¬ 
quences. 

Sometimes  the  change  for  the  worse  is  gradual, 
sometimes  sudden  and  spectacular.  Some  muti¬ 
nous  sailors  broke  into  the  Russian  stores  at  Cron- 
stadt,  drank  themselves  into  a  state  of  beastly 
intoxication,  and  set  fire  to  the  buildings.  Three 
hundred  of  them  were  burned  to  death  in  the 
flames  their  own  hands  had  kindled. 

The  penalty  is  not  always  so  swift.  Frequently 
it  delays.  It  is  stealthy  and  conceals  its  ap¬ 
proach,  but  it  comes.  It  is  possible  to  hide  a 
thorn  with  a  flower ;  to  make  poison  palatable ; 
to  contract  malaria  in  a  garden  luxuriant  with 
tropical  plants  and  in  an  atmosphere  fragrant 
with  witching  perfumes.  But  however  slow  or 


136 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


stealthy  the  approach  of  the  penalty  or  successful 
its  disguise,  the  feeling  that  any  one  can  do  wrong 
and  not  be  hurt  is  a  lie.  “The  wages  of  sin  is 
death.  ” 

Granted  that  God  can  stand  it  $  can  man  ?  Can 
he  afford  to  ruin  his  life  ?  There  is  yet  a  third 
element  in  wrong-doing. 

The  Fact  That  It  Hurts  Man  Is  the 
Reason  That  It  Hurts  Gob 

Doubtless  God  could  get  along  without  man. 
He  could  continue  to  govern  the  universe  and 
maintain  law  and  administer  justice  whether  or 
not  He  have  man’s  approval.  It  is  likely  the  Bible 
will  continue  to  be  the  Word  of  God,  whether  we 
believe  it  is  or  not.  It  is  probable  that  the  cross 
of  Calvary  will  continue  to  save  sinners,  whether 
or  not  it  ever  saves  us.  Man  is  not  necessary  to 
God’s  success.  He  will  still  be  omnipotent,  omni¬ 
scient  and  omnipresent,  whether  man  do  right  or 
wrong.  He  said  to  Moses  :  “I  am  that  I  am.” 
He  is  the  self-existent  and  self-sufficient  God. 

Nevertheless,  He  is  enough  of  a  father  to  feel 
for  His  children  and  to  be  hurt  by  whatever 
hurts  them.  This  is  the  parent’s  way.  If  God 
had  merely  made  man  as  the  potter  makes  the 
clay  into  a  vase,  He  might  not  care.  Yet  they 
tell  of  a  potter  who  at  a  critical  moment,  when 
his  work  was  in  peril,  fed  the  furnace  fires  with 
his  body,  that  his  work  might  not  suffer  damage. 
If  God  were  only  a  potter  handling  common  clay, 
surely  He  would  not  care  less  for  His  work. 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  GOOD 


137 


If  He  had  merely  made  man,  as  the  sculptor 
makes  the  insensate  stone  into  a  statue,  He  might 
not  care.  Yet  they  tell  of  a  poor  sculptor  work¬ 
ing  at  midwinter,  in  a  tireless  studio,  who  took 
the  clothing  from  his  own  body  and  wrapped  it 
around  his  work  that  the  frost  might  not  injure 
it.  They  found  the  sculptor  frozen  to  death  in 
his  room,  but  his  work  was  saved.  If  God  were 
only  a  sculptor  cutting  pulseless  marble  into 
shape,  surely  He  would  not  care  less  for  His  work. 

God  is  more  than  a  potter,  a  sculptor  ;  He  is  a 
father  and  we  are  His  children.  When  we  go 
wrong,  God  feels  as  the  father  who  sees  his  child 
caught  in  the  snare  of  the  enemy. 

A  mother  said  of  a  son  who  was  going  to  the 
bad:  “ Would  that  I  had  buried  him  in  his 
babyhood !  ” 

Few  who  are  parents  but  sometimes  find  them¬ 
selves  longing  that  they  might  keep  their  chil¬ 
dren  back  in  innocent  childhood,  in  the  state  of 
sheltered  dependency,  where  the  call  of  the  wild 
cannot  reach  them. 

Does  God  ever  feel  this  longing?  Does  the 
heavenly  Father  ever  repent  of  having  made 
man?  When  He  sees  him  surrendering  to  sin 
and  wandering  into  the  ufar  country,  v  does  He 
regret  having  given  him  freedom  of  will? 

When  man  goes  away  from  God,  further  and 
further  into  the  night  and  the  peril,  do  not  im¬ 
agine  that  God  looks  on  and  makes  no  effort  to 
save.  His  is  not  a  dumb  and  helpless  grief.  He 
does  not  content  Himself  with  a  declaration  of 


138 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


sorrow,  but  taxes  the  resources  of  heaven  to 
rescue  the  lost. 

His  word  is  full  of  entreaty.  God  talks  to 
fallen  man  and  tells  him  what  he  must  encounter 
on  the  road  of  evil.  With  His  heart  in  His  voice 
He  says:  “Come,  let  us  reason  together.”  He 
pleads,  instructs,  warns,  entreats,  beseeches. 

He  comes  in  the  person  of  His  Son  to  save. 
He  dies  on  the  cross.  In  a  sacrifice  more  won¬ 
derful  and  winsome  than  any  potter  or  sculptor 
ever  made,  He  gives  Himself  to  save  His  work. 

He  comes  in  the  person  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to 
contend  with  man’s  foes,  to  regenerate  his  fallen 
nature,  to  give  him  strength  and  fortitude  for 
the  conflict,  and  to  bring  him  off  more  than 
conqueror. 

Through  His  word  and  His  Son  and  His  Spirit, 
He  is  sounding  out  the  call  of  the  good. 

Man’s  Part  in  Deliverance 

God  is  doing  all  this,  but  there  is  one  thing  He 
cannot  do  for  man.  He  cannot  determine  him  to 
do  right  or  not  to  do  wrong.  He  can  love  him 
and  warn  him  and  suffer  for  him  and  die  in  his 
stead  and  pay  the  penalty  due  for  his  sin,  but 
He  cannot  give  up  sins  for  him.  If  that  is  ever 
done,  man  must  do  it  himself. 

God  keeps  the  hand  of  force  off  of  the  human 
will.  It  hurt  Him  when  Adam  fell,  but  He  let 
him  fall.  He  did  not  step  in  with  omnipotence 
and  prevent  that  first  transgression.  It  hurt  God 
when  David  fell,  but  He  let  him  fall.  He  did 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  GOOD 


139 


not  take  the  king’s  human  nature  in  the  grip 
of  almighty  power  ancl  compel  him  to  abstain 
from  licentiousness.  It  hurt  Christ  when  Judas 
Iscariot  betrayed  Him  and  when  Simon  Peter 
denied  Him,  but  Christ  did  not  interfere  with 
the  freedom  of  these  men  to  do  as  they  pleased. 

If  man  is  ever  to  turn  from  his  evil  ways, 
he  must  turn  himself.  Nobody  can  quit  doing 
wrong  for  me.  There  are  some  things  my  friends 
can  do  for  me  and  some  things  God  can  do  for 
me,  but  there  is  one  thing  I  must  do  for  myself,  if 
it  is  ever  done.  I  must  turn  from  that  which  is 
wrong  to  that  which  is  right.  This  is  my  battle. 
I  must  face  about.  My  will  must  throw  itself 
towards  life. 

If  I  am  going  away  from  God,  it  is  not  God’s 
fault.  He  is  not  with  me  because  He  cannot 
travel  my  road.  He  cannot  dwell  where  I  have 
taken  up  a  residence.  When  a  man  steps  down 
into  sin  he  parts  company  with  God.  Blasphemy, 
adultery,  dishonesty  are  all  steps  away  from 
God.  We  have  not  lost  His  love,  but  we  have 
gone  where  He  cannot  share  our  life.  He  has  not 
left  us,  but  we  have  left  Him.  If  we  are  to  re¬ 
cover  fellowship  with  Him,  we  must  return. 

1  c  Let  the  wicked  forsake  his  way,  and  the  un¬ 
righteous  man  his  thoughts  ;  and  let  him  return 
unto  the  Lord,  and  He  will  have  mercy  upon 
him  j  and  to  our  God,  for  He  will  abundantly 
pardon.”  1 

The  eternal  in  man  is  saying  that  no  one  can 

1  Isa.  55  :  7- 


140 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


afford  to  go  away  from  God,  to  turn  his  back 
on  Christ’s  cross,  and  walk  with  his  feet  towards 
moral  ruin  and  spiritual  death.  Whoever  does 
wrong  is  going  away  from  joy  and  peace  and 
hope  and  love  and  heaven.  He  cannot  afford  to 
do  it. 

No  man  can  afford  to  throw  himself  away. 

God  cannot  bear  to  see  him  do  it,  and  sounds 
through  the  wayward  soul  the  call  of  the  good. 
He  is  urging  man  to  help  himself,  that  he  may 
be  helped.  The  instant  he  turns  he  finds  God, 
and  God  becomes  available.  The  instant  David 
turned,  he  found  God.  The  moment  Simon  Peter 
turned,  he  found  his  Saviour.  The  very  day  the 
prodigal  said,  UI  will  go  to  my  father,”  lie  was 
a  son  again.  God  is  there  at  our  back. 
Let  a  man  turn  from  his  evil  ways  and  he  will 
find  himself  looking  into  the  face  of  his  divine 
friend.  God  is  anxious  to  help  us,  but  we  must 
come  where  He  can  bless  us.  For  Him  to  give  a 
career  of  sin  His  approval  would  be  for  Him  to 
forfeit  all  claim  to  man’s  respect  and  reverence, 
and  for  God  to  give  anything  but  a  loving  wel¬ 
come  to  the  returning  penitent  would  be  for  Him 
to  lose  His  character. 

The  Response 

It  must  be  one  thing  or  the  other.  None  can 
ignore  this  issue.  He  who  thinks  that  he  can  go 
towards  God  by  doing  wrong  is  more  stupid  than 
he  who  takes  a  bath  in  a  cesspool.  There  is  an 
eternal  difference  between  right  and  wrong.  It 


THE  CALL  OF  THE  GOOD 


141 


is  not  possible  to  compromise  with  a  moral  issue. 
Not  to  do  right  is  to  do  wrong.  Not  to  return  to 
God  is  to  go  further  away  from  Him. 

The  eternal  in  man  pleads  that  he  turn  from 
evil  ways.  It  is  not  necessary  to  say  what  these 
evil  ways  are.  With  some  it  is  an  evil  way  in 
business  ;  with  others  an  evil  way  in  the  private 
life  and  the  personal  character.  It  may  be  an  evil 
way  in  the  home,  towards  one’s  neighbour,  to¬ 
wards  the  church,  a  dishonest  way,  an  avaricious 
way,  an  adulterous  way.  It  may  cost  a  hard 
struggle,  the  loss  of  money,  the  surrender  of 
pride.  Cost  wliat  it  may,  the  higher  nature 
urges  man  to  turn,  to  move  out  of  the  swamps 
and  the  malaria,  to  shake  off  “the  body  of 
death,”  to  get  right  with  God,  and  live. 

The  call  of  the  good  is  sounding  above  the  call 
of  the  wild.  It  is  singing  down  from  the  skies. 
It  is  singing  over  the  years  from  Christ’s  cross. 
However  far  we  may  have  wandered,  we  can  hear 
it.  Sometimes  it  sounds  like  the  low  refrain  of 
an  angel’s  song  ;  sometimes  like  a  war  cry  sum¬ 
moning  us  to  battle.  Now  it  is  like  a  lullaby  of 
love,  the  heritage  of  happier  and  better  days ; 
and  now  it  is  a  thunder  peal  of  warning  ;  but 
whatever  the  music,  our  listening  souls  can  hear 
it,  as  we  sit  in  the  chamber  of  memory,  as  we 
lean  out  of  the  window  of  promise,  as  we  stand 
in  the  door  of  hope,  when  the  old  longing  comes 
over  us  for  our  own ;  and  always,  whatever  the 
tones,  it  is  our  Father’s  voice  saying  to  His  child 
in  the  far  country  :  “  Come  home  !  ” 


XIII 


FAITH 

“  Father,  hold  Thou  my  hands ; 

The  way  is  steep  ; 

I  cannot  see  the  path  my  feet  must  keep  ? 

I  cannot  tell,  so  dark  the  tangled  way, 

Where  next  to  step.  Oh,  stay ; 

Come  close;  take  both  my  hands  in  Thine; 

Make  Thy  way  mine. 

Lead  me.  1  may  not  stay. 

I  must  move  on,  but  oh,  the  way  ! 

I  must  be  brave  and  go ; 

Step  forward  in  the  dark,  nor  know 
If  I  shall  reach  the  goal  at  all  — 

If  I  shall  fall. 

Take  Thou  my  hand ; 

Take  it !  Thou  knowest  best 
How  I  should  go,  and  all  the  rest ; 

I  cannot,  cannot  see  ; 

Lead  me,  I  hold  my  hands  to  Thee ; 

I  own  no  will  but  Thine ; 

Make  Thy  way  mine.” 

— George  Klingle. 

Faith  is  the  call  of  the  eternal  in  man  for  God. 
It  is  one  of  the  strongest  and  most  convincing  of 
all  the  proofs  of  man’s  high  origin  and  destiny. 

Faith  is  health.  It  is  moral  soundness.  It  is 
vigour  and  power,  sanity  and  sanctity.  It  is 
what  God  seeks  in  every  human  life.  There  may 
be  culture,  but  if  there  be  no  faith,  God  is  not 

142 


FAITH 


143 


pleased.  There  may  be  ability,  but  if  there  be 
no  faith,  God  is  not  pleased.  There  may  be 
activity,  but  if  there  be  no  faith,  God  is  not 
pleased.  There  may  be  prayers  and  praise  and 
generous  giving,  but  lacking  faith,  there  is  no 
worship. 


The  Importance  of  Faith 

A  little  reflection  will  show  why  this  must  be 
so. 

A  man’s  faith  is  his  acquisition  of  God.  With¬ 
out  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  Him,  because 
without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  have  Him. 
Faith  acquires  God.  No  man  can  possess  God 
who  denies  Him.  Faith  is  the  living  link  be¬ 
tween  the  human  and  the  divine.  It  establishes 
the  circuit  between  God  and  man.  It  is  the  act 
of  the  soul  grasping  and  appropriating  the  invis¬ 
ible  and  spiritual.  God  is  for  His  creatures. 
He  desires  them  to  possess  Him.  Because  He 
does,  He  cannot  be  pleased  without  faith. 

A  man’s  faith  is  his  estimate  of  God.  Ab¬ 
stractly  considered,  God,  of  course,  is  infinite. 
Practically,  He  is  limited  to  the  dimensions  of 
our  faith.  No  one  has  a  bigger  God  than  he  be¬ 
lieves  in,  for  faith  is  vision.  It  is  the  window  of 
the  soul,  and  one  can  see  more  with  an  unob¬ 
structed  horizon  than  through  a  chink  in  the 
wall.  Because  God  is  not  willing  to  be  reduced, 
because  He  prefers  a  portrait  to  a  caricature,  He 
is  not  pleased  without  faith. 

A  man’s  faith  is  God’s  opportunity.  Faith 


144 


THE  ETEBNAL  IN  MAN 


limits  divine  activity  in  the  individual  life. 
Christ  is  represented  as  standing  at  the  door  of 
the  heart,  knocking  and  seeking  entrance.  All 
of  God  waits  without  any  life,  and  seeks  admit¬ 
tance  ;  but  the  door  must  be  opened  from  within. 
God  is  no  intruder.  He  does  not  force  an  entrance. 
Faith  must  throw  the  lock  and  open  the  door,  if 
God  is  to  enter.  He  is  anxious  to  do  a  divine 
part  by  us,  but  He  must  have  the  chance.  Faith 
is  God’s  chance  to  bless  us,  and  because  it  is, 
without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  Him. 

A  man’s  faith  is  the  essential  condition  of  all 
that  God  seeks  to  develop  within  and  confer  upon 
us.  He  wants  us  to  have  hope,  but  hope  is  im¬ 
possible  without  faith.  uWe  are  saved  by  hope, 
but  hope  that  is  seen  ’  ’  j  that  is,  hope  that  lacks 
faith  u  is  not  hope.” 

He  wants  us  to  love  Him  supremely,  and  our 
neighbour  as  ourselves  but  one  cannot  love  a 
God  he  distrusts ;  nor  is  he  likely  to  trust  his 
neighbour  if  he  distrust  God.  He  wants  our 
obedience,  but  it  is  folly  to  speak  of  obeying  one 
we  deny.  He  wants  our  service,  but  no  one  will 
serve  a  God  he  discredits.  Thus  faith  is  back  of 
all  God  seeks  to  develop  in  the  life.  Because  it 
is,  without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  Him. 

It  is  the  thing  Christ  sought  in  His  disciples. 
Whenever  He  found  it  He  was  delighted.  To  one 
He  said,  in  happy  astonishment:  uO  woman, 
great  is  thy  faith  ”  ;  and  to  another,  u  I  have  not 
seen  so  great  faith,  no,  not  in  Israel.”  He  con¬ 
ditions  salvation  solely  on  faith.  He  makes  the 


FAITH 


145 


prayer  of  faith  the  conquering  appeal,  the  battie 
of  faith  the  supreme  victory,  and  says,  u  All 
things  are  possible  to  him  that  belie  veth.” 

Faith  is  Not  Common 

Nevertheless,  faith  is  rare. 

Those  who  profess  to  have  it,  and  who  seek  to 
increase  what  they  have,  must  confess  that  doubt 
mingles  with  faith.  Faith  is  weak  and  wavering, 
and  often  goes  lame.  Like  the  man  in  the  gospel 
story,  often  the  best  one  can  do  is  to  pray  ‘ 4  Lord, 
I  believe  ;  help  Thou  mine  unbelief.  *  9  One,  who 
might  scorn  the  name  of  u  agnostic,”  reads  the 
Bible  and  wonders  if  it  can  be  true.  That  is,  he 
doubts.  He  says  his  prayers,  and  wonders  if 
they  are  heard.  That  is,  he  doubts.  He  thinks 
of  heaven,  and  wonders  if  it  can  be  real.  That 
is,  he  doubts.  He  has  not  much  respect  for  his 
faith.  It  lacks  heroism.  It  has  nervous  pros¬ 
tration  on  slight  provocation.  A  spell  of  bad 
weather  is  a  great  trial  to  faith,  and  a  counter 
attraction  is  something  it  cannot  withstand. 

There  are  those  who  do  not  even  profess  faith. 
They  are  not  in  the  opposition,  but  they  do  not 
believe.  They  have  no  particular  reason  to  give. 
They  are  simply  not  convinced.  Religion  fails  to 
appeal  to  them.  It  has  no  attractions.  Perhaps 
they  attend  church.  It  is  respectable,  and  it 
pleases  the  women.  Maybe  they  drop  a  coin  in 
the  collection  plate.  It  is  expected.  But  the 
preacher’ s  story  is  a  foreign  language.  They 
have  no  organ  to  apprehend  what  he  discusses. 


146 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


They  lack  faith,  and  it  would  be  as  sensible  to 
fry  to  see  with  the  nose,  or  hear  with  the  foot,  as 
to  try  to  apprehend  God  without  faith. 

Again,  there  are  those  who  ridicule  faith. 
They  regard  it  as  a  sign  of  intellectual  decrepi¬ 
tude.  A  man  said  to  a  friend,  i  1 I  am  too  much 
of  a  New  Yorker  to  go  to  church.’7  It  is  a  pleas¬ 
ant  conceit  with  such  people  that  all  the  religious 
are  weak-minded.  It  is  quite  the  fashion  now¬ 
adays  to  abolish  the  supernatural.  It  is  claimed 
that  the  scientific  method  has  done  the  work. 
The  biologist,  as  he  enters  his  laboratory,  knows 
nothing  of  the  supernatural.  He  is  there  to  ex¬ 
plain,  and  the  instant  anything  is  explained  it 
ceases  to  be  supernatural.  As  if  God  could  be 
confined  to  a  glass  retort,  or  heaven  discovered 
with  a  field-glass  !  The  scientific  method  has  one 
task  in  connection  with  religion.  It  is  to  distin¬ 
guish  the  supernatural  from  the  superstitious.  To 
say,  however,  that  there  is  no  supernatural,  be¬ 
cause  it  cannot  be  scientifically  apprehended,  is  to 
take  an  unj  ustifiable  liberty  with  language.  The 
supernatural  is  the  tenant  of  the  spiritual  realm, 
and  it  can  be  entered  only  by  faith.  It  would  be 
easier  to  see  with  the  mouth,  or  hear  with  the 
eyes,  than  to  find  God  with  the  senses. 

One  other  class  of  doubters  remains  to  be  men¬ 
tioned.  It  is  composed  of  those  who  declare 
faith  impossible  because  of  the  mysterious  char¬ 
acter  of  what  they  are  asked  to  believe.  Religion 
demands  the  acceptance,  they  say,  of  insoluble 
mysteries  and  incredible  doctrines.  Reason  can- 


FAITH 


147 


not  comprehend  these.  Therefore,  faith  is  im¬ 
possible. 

We  may  rest  assured  that  faith  and  reason, 
when  rightly  related,  are  not  in  conflict.  They 
are  complemental  in  man’s  being.  For  reason  to 
oppress  faith,  is  for  reason  to  be  despotic  ;  and 
for  faith  to  belittle  reason,  is  for  faith  to  be  su¬ 
perstitious.  It  is  not  necessary  to  degrade  the 
head  in  order  to  exalt  the  heart.  Reason  does 
not  need  to  abdicate  in  order  that  faith  may 
reign.  One  may  believe  what  he  cannot  under¬ 
stand.  We  are  doing  it  daily  in  the  natural 
world.  If  a  man  can  have  faith  in  the  incompre¬ 
hensible  of  the  natural,  surely  he  can  have  faith 
in  the  incomprehensible  of  the  supernatural. 

In  u  The  Natural  Law  in  the  Spiritual  World,” 
Prof.  Henry  Drummond  has  a  striking  passage, 
in  which  he  describes  u  the  wonderful  adaptation 
of  each  organism  to  its  surroundings — of  the  fish 
to  the  water,  of  the  eagle  to  the  air,  of  the  insect 
to  the  forest  bed  5  and  of  each  part  of  every 
organism — the  fish’s  swim-bladder,  the  eagle’s 
eye,  the  insect’s  breathing  tubes.”  All  these,  he 
says,  inspire  us  with  a  sense  of  the  boundless  re¬ 
source  and  skill  of  nature  in  perfecting  her  ar¬ 
rangements  for  the  individual  life.  “Down  in 
the  last  details  the  world  is  made  for  what  is  in 
it  j  and  by  whatever  process  things  are  as  they 
are,  all  organisms  find  in  surrounding  nature  the 
ample  complements  of  themselves.” 

All  this  holds  as  one  ascends  the  scale  of  being. 
Man  finds  every  want  met  and  need  answered. 


148 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


It  is  as  true  of  his  mental  as  of  his  physical 
make- up.  When  we  reach  the  apex  of  the 
pyramid  of  being  we  must  hold  that  the  same  law 
obtains.  Faith  must  have  realities  adjusted  to 
its  varying  needs.  For  faith,  the  supernatural 
is  the  natural.  It  is  faith’s  medium,  its  native 
air.  Therefore,  the  incomprehensible,  instead  of 
destroying  or  preventing  faith,  permits  it.  It 
creates  faith.  It  demands  faith.  It  is  faith’s 
glory. 


The  Evidences 

The  lack  of  faith  is  not  due  to  a  lack  of 
evidence.  The  reason  men  doubt  God  is  not  be¬ 
cause  there  is  no  convincing  proof  of  His  ex¬ 
istence.  There  is  abundant  evidence  to  convince 
any  fair-minded  man  that  God  is  a  reality  and 
Christianity  true. 

Dives,  in  the  lost  world,  is  represented  as  beg¬ 
ging  permission  to  return  to  earth  and  warn  his 
brothers,  lest  they  fall  into  as  dreadful  a  fate. 
The  request  takes  it  for  granted  that  Dives  felt 
he  had  not  had  a  fair  chance  when  in  this  life. 
The  evidence  of  the  end  to  which  his  conduct  had 
brought  him  was  insufficient.  It,  is  not  hard  to 
create  some  sympathy  for  Dives  on  this  score, 
and  there  are  others  who  would  plead  a  lack  of 
evidence. 

It  is  a  lame  plea.  There  are  at  least  four  wit¬ 
nesses  whose  testimony  ought  to  make  faith  pos¬ 
sible  for  any  one  who  is  not  willfully  skeptical. 

The  first  is  the  Bible.  When  one  considers  the 


FAITH 


149 


character  of  its  composition  and  contents,  the 
marvellous  manner  in  which  it  has  been  preserved, 
the  effect  of  its  teachings  on  the  world,  its  trans¬ 
forming  power,  and  the  high  regard  in  which  it 
is  held  by  millions  of  the  best  people,  its  testi¬ 
mony  is  deserving  of  attention.  There  is  no 
other  such  book.  It  stands  the  most  scrutinizing 
investigation.  There  need  be  no  fear  that  higher 
criticism  will  demolish  the  Bible.  Such  criti¬ 
cism,  provided  it  be  sane  and  scholarly,  is  legiti¬ 
mate.  To  be  sure,  higher  criticism  is  not  exactly 
the  kind  of  material  with  which  to  feed  the  soul. 
It  is  not  nourishing.  It  makes  poor  preaching. 
A  cartoon  entitled  “An  Interesting  Sermon  on 
the  Higher  Criticism  of  the  Pentateuch, 7 ?  ap¬ 
peared  in  a  popular  magazine.  The  preacher 
and  sermon  were  left  to  be  imagined,  only 
the  audience  appearing  in  the  picture.  There 
was  a  vast  array  of  empty  pews.  Three  seats 
were  occupied.  In  the  front  sat  a  family  of  six, 
husband,  wife  and  four  children.  The  wife 
leaned  forward,  looking  wise,  as  if  she  felt  it  was 
a  great  occasion,  and  she  must  rise  to  what  the 
hour  expected.  The  man  looked  dejected  and 
unutterably  bored  ;  while  the  children  wore  ex¬ 
pressions  which  seemed  to  say  that  purgatory  was 
a  present  reality.  In  the  second  pew  sat  an  old 
lady  in  poke  bonnet,  with  spectacles  well  down 
on  her  nose.  Her  face  was  greatly  distressed, 
and  she  seemed  to  think  there  was  trouble  some¬ 
where  in  Zion,  but  she  was  not  able  to  locate  it. 
In  the  last  pew  sat  a  hard-headed  elder,  with  a 


150 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


look  of  despair,  as  if  he  had  reached  the  conclu¬ 
sion  that  if  this  thing  went  on  much  longer  the 
church  would  have  to  go  out  of  business. 

Such  was  the  illustration  of  uAn  Interesting 
Sermon  on  the  Higher  Criticism  of  the  Penta¬ 
teuch.”  The  picture  was  a  fair  commentary. 
Higher  criticism  is  poor  preaching.  It  is  a 
legitimate  method  of  Bible  study.  Of  course  it 
must  be  scientific.  It  must  not  assume  that  it 
has  proven  what  it  has  assumed.  But  one  need 
not  be  nervous  about  the  Bible.  It  can  stand  any 
investigation.  It  is  u  the  impregnable  rock  of 
Sacred  Scripture.”  u Forever,  O  God,  Thy 
word  is  established  in  heaven!”  The  Bible 
proves  that  faith  is  not  unreasonable. 

A  second  witness  is  Christ.  Christ  is.  Let 
one  hold  any  theory  he  please  about  His  birth, 
His  miracles,  His  death;  Christ  is  a  reality.  He 
is  historic.  He  is  alive  in  the  lives  of  His  fol¬ 
lowers.  He  is  the  highest  climb  the  race  has 
made  towards  God.  He  was  the  greatest  and 
best  of  men.  His  teachings  need  no  theory  of  in¬ 
spiration  to  prove  them.  They  are  axiomatic. 
Christianity  has  Christ.  Christ  proves  Chris¬ 
tianity.  Christ  is  a  lie,  if  God  be  false  and  Chris¬ 
tianity  untrue. 

The  third  witness  is  the  church.  It  is  imper¬ 
fect,  to  be  sure,  but  indispensable  in  all  valuable 
efforts  to  uplift  the  world.  The  church  is 
precious,  judged  by  any  standard.  Take  so  low 
a  form  of  valuation  as  that  of  real  estate,  and  the 
church  is  a  positive  asset.  The  Rev.  G.  W, 


FAITH 


151 


Hinckley,  of  the  Good  Will  Farm,  in  Maine, 
tells  of  a  man  in  whose  house  he  was  making  a 
brief  call,  and  who  made  a  pathetic  appeal  for 
help  to  sell  his  farm.  Mr.  Hinckley  told  him 
that  he  was  not  in  the  business  of  selling  farms, 
but  that  if  he  found  any  one  wanting  to  purchase 
he  would  mention  the  place.  It  comprised  one 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land,  a  house  costing 
$4,000  to  build,  and  two  large  barns,  and  was  in 
speaking  distance  of  the  post  office,  town  hall  and 
schoolhouse.  ‘  1  How  much  do  you  ask  for  it  ?7  7 
Mr.  Hinckley  said.  “Well,77  replied  the  man, 
who  was  an  avowed  infidel,  “we  pretend  to  ask 
$2, 000  for  the  place,  but  we  would  sell  it  for  much 
less  if  we  could  get  away  from  here. 7  7 

“Can  you  not  sell  it  at  that  price  ? 7  7  “No. 
Men  come  here  and  look  at  it.  They  like  the 
farm,  they  like  the  house  and  the  general  location, 
but  they  all  ask  for  the  church,  and  I  am  com¬ 
pelled  to  confess  that  the  town  has  been  in¬ 
corporated  forty-five  years,  and  there  is  no  church 
here,  and  never  has  been  one.  No  one  wants  to 
move  to  such  a  place. 7  7 

The  man,  who  was  the  most  prominent  citizen 
of  the  community,  and  an  enemy  of  the  church, 
had  by  the  force  of  his  influence  been  able  to 
keep  out  the  church,  but  he  was  moving  away, 
unwilling  to  abide  by  the  fruits  of  his  own  work. 

He  was  like  the  young  agnostic,  who  was  very 
careful  to  state  that  while  not  believing  in  Chris¬ 
tianity,  he  would  be  unwilling  to  live  in  any 
community  where  there  was  not  a  church  and 


152 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Christian  people.  He  was  like  a  man  who  be¬ 
lieves  in  sunshine,  but  not  in  the  sun.  The 
church  is  not  built  on  a  lie.  If  one  believes 
in  education,  philanthropy,  good  government, 
charity,  decent  society,  he  must  believe  in  the 
church.  The  church  is  evidence  enough  for  faith 
in  the  worth  of  Christianity. 

The  fourth  witness  is  Christian  experience. 
It  is  the  testimony  of  people  who  have  tried 
Christianity.  Whenever  we  wish  to  know  any¬ 
thing  we  go  to  one  who  knows.  We  seek  an  ex¬ 
pert.  If  we  wish  to  know  something  about 
bridges,  we  go  to  a  bridge  builder.  If  it  be 
medicine,  we  go  to  a  physician  ;  law,  to  a  lawyer  j 
agriculture,  to  a  specialist  in  that  department. 
Why  not  follow  the  same  rule  in  religious 
investigations?  Instead  of. asking  an  agnostic, 
whose  boast  is  that  he  knows  nothing  about 
Christianity,  let  us  have  the  testimony  of  one 
who  has  tried  it  and  who  out  of  his  personal  ex¬ 
perience  can  say  :  u  I  know  whom  I  have  be¬ 
lieved.’’  Christian  experience  pronounces  faith 
reasonable. 

Here,  then,  are  four  witnesses — the  Bible, 
Christ,  the  Church  and  Christian  experience. 
The  evidence  is  sufficient.  If  they  will  not  be¬ 
lieve  these,  they  will  not  believe  any.  Dives 
was  reminded  that  his  brothers  had  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  and  that  if  they  would  not  hearken 
to  them  neither  would  they  believe,  u  though  one 
should  rise  from  the  dead.”  After  some  of 
Christ’s  most  striking  miracles  there  were  those 


FAITH 


153 


who  would  not  believe.  Even  the  raising  of 
Lazarus  from  the  dead  was  not  all-convincing. 
The  cause  of  doubt  is  not  the  lack  of  evidence. 

The  Causes  of  Doubt 

It  is  unfair  to  consider  all  who  lack  faith  as 
bad,  or  to  charge  dishonesty  upon  all  who  doubt. 
There  are  people  who  lack  faith  but  who  are 
thoroughly  sincere.  Their  characters  are  good, 
their  lives  above  reproach.  To  say  that  they  are 
skeptical  because  of  sins  is  to  say  what  the  facts 
do  not  warrant.  Perhaps  their  avowal  of  doubt 
is  not  so  much  doubt  of  God  as  of  something  con¬ 
nected  with  His  worship.  There  are  those  who 
confound  church  rules  and  Christianity.  Certain 
churches  lay  down  certain  rules  as  conditions 
of  church  membership.  There  is  a  church,  for 
instance,  which  forbids  dancing  and  card  playing, 
and  yonder  is  a  man  who  docs  not  believe  as  the 
church  believes  about  these  things.  Therefore, 
he  remains  outside  with  his  doubts.  Again,  there 
are  those  who  confound  church  dogmas  or  views 
about  God,  the  Bible,  and  Christ,  with  Chris¬ 
tianity.  Here  is  a  man  who  does  not  believe  in  a 
hell  of  literal  fire,  but  he  imagines  that  to  be  a 
Christian  he  must,  and  so  he  remains  outside  and 
doubts.  He  confounds  Christianity  with  im¬ 
possible  dogmas.  There  is  a  man  who  does  not 
believe  that  the  world  was  made  in  six  days  of 
twenty -four  hours  each.  He  supposes  this  to  be 
the  faith  of  the  church.  Because  he  cannot  hold 
this  faith  he  remains  outside  and  doubts. 


154 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Evidently  those  who  class  themselves  as  doubt¬ 
ers  for  these  and  similar  reasons  are  not  doubters 
at  ail.  They  have  faith,  and  should  rank  with 
believers.  Church  membership  is  not,  in  the 
Christian  conception,  a  promise  to  obey  some 
man-made  rule,  nor  a  subscription  to  some  hu¬ 
man  view  of  God  and  salvation.  Faith  is  not 
hidebound  by  dogma.  “Faith  is  the  substance 
of  things  hoped  for,  the  evidence  of  things  not 
seen.”  It  is  enduring,  as  “seeing  Him  who  is 
invisible.”  It  is  believing  that  “God  is,  and 
that  He  is  the  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently 
seek  Him.”’ 

Eliminating  those  who  doubt  because  they 
think  the  evidence  insufficient,  and  those  who 
doubt  because  they  confound  the  accidental  and 
non-essential  with  the  fundamental  in  Chris¬ 
tianity,  there  still  remain  the  great  majority  of 
unbelievers  whose  lack  of  faith  can  be  explained 
only  on  Scriptural  grounds. 

The  Bible’s  Analysis  of  Doubt 

Some  doubt  because  their  hearts  are  hardened. 
They  have  heard  and  resisted.  They  have  re¬ 
peated  the  process  until  the  spiritual  sense  has 
atrophied  through  disuse.  When  Paul  preached 
in  the  synagogue  at  Ephesus,  some  who  heard 
him  “were  hardened,  and  believed  not.”  It  is 
a  most  dangerous  state  of  mind  and  heart.  The 
remedy  is  to  respond  as  far  as  one  may  be  able, 
to  live  up  to  the  little  faith  that  may  be  possible, 
to  follow  all  the  light  one  has.  Doing  this,  more 


FAITH 


155 


light  will  be  given,  and  doubt  will  slowly  but 
surely  yield  to  faith. 

Others  doubt  because  of  skeptical  training. 
They  have  grown  up  in  an  atmosphere  of  un¬ 
belief.  Paul,  in  writing  to  the  Bomans,  speaks 
of  those  who  in  “  times  past”  believed  not. 
Doubt  was  their  inheritance.  The  writer  is 
acquainted  with  a  man  who  spent  his  boyhood 
and  young  manhood  in  the  home  of  an  atheistic 
uncle,  whose  library  consisted  of  a  large  col¬ 
lection  of  infidel  literature.  Through  this  the 
boy’s  growing  mind  roamed  at  will,  and  while 
becoming  a  man  of  good  moral  character  he  has 
never  been  able  to  shake  himself  free  of  the  night¬ 
mare  of  doubt  caused  by  vicious  training. 

Others  doubt  from  lack  of  sense.  This  is 
Christ’s  diagnosis.  “O  fools  and  slow  of  heart 
to  believe.”  Jesus  did  not  regard  doubt  as  a 
sign  of  mental  vigour.  With  Him  it  was  an 
evidence  of  stupidity,  a  sure  mark  of  mediocrity. 
It  is  a  comfort  to  remember  that  God  has  made 
special  provision  for  infants. 

There  are  those  who  do  not  believe  because 
religion  is  distasteful.  “Because  I  tell  you  the 
truth,  ye  believe  not.  ’  ’  One  who  is  doing  wrong 
does  not  care  to  be  rebuked.  If  the  truth  hurts, 
he  prefers  to  believe  something  else.  He  doubts 
because  it  is  more  convenient. 

There  is  still  another  class,  whose  doubt  the 
Bible  explains  when  it  speaks  of  those  who  are 
not  of  the  redeemed.  Christianity  does  not  teach 
that  every  one  will  be  saved.  It  is  not  univer- 


156 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


salism.  One  may  live  in  America  without  being 
an  American  citizen.  One  may  enjoy  the  privi¬ 
leges  of  the  gospel  without  being  a  Christian. 
He  who  fires  on  the  flag  is  not  a  citizen,  but  an 
enemy.  He  who  rejects  Christ  can  hardly  be 
called  Christ’s  disciple.  It  is  this  fearful  and 
solemn  fact  which  the  Saviour  announced  when 
He  said  :  “Ye  believe  not  because  ye  are  not  oi 
My  sheep.” 

Then  there  are  many  like  those  described  by 
the  prophet  Habakkuk,  who  believe  not  because 
they  “will  not  believe.”  They  have  no  par¬ 
ticular  reason.  There  is  nothing  in  the  way  but 
their  will.  After  all  this  is  the  supreme  barrier, 
for  “with  the  heart  man  believeth  unto  right¬ 
eousness.”  Any  one  can  believe  who  wills  to 
believe,  or  wants  to  believe,  or  is  willing  to 
believe. 

Such  are  some  'of  the  explanations  which  the 
Bible  gives  of  unbelief.  They  are  accentuated 
by  the  materialistic  age  in  which  we  live.  It  is 
a  hard  era  for  faith.  We  believe  so  thoroughly 
in  the  visible.  Men  are  after  money.  The  age 
worships  success.  A  common  spectacle  is  the  in¬ 
glorious  surrender  of  the  future  for  the  present, 
and  the  prodigal  sacrifice  of  the  eternal  for  the 
temporal. 


The  Call  for  Faith 
Over  against  this  God  calls  for  faith,  and  with¬ 
out  it,  it  is  as  impossible  now  as  ever  to  please 
Him.  The  demand  for  faith  is  urgent.  The 


FAITH 


157 


people  who  represent  God  must  believe  in  Him. 
Those  who  administer  and  would  experience  His 
kingdom  must  possess  vision.  They  must  look 
beyond  the  narrow  rim  of  sense  and  apprehend 
the  eternal.  They  may  have  energy,  culture, 
ability,  wealth,  position,  but  they  must  have 
faith.  They  must  believe  in  something.  They 
must  get  away  from  hard  materialism  and  sordid 
calculations,  and  venture  out  on  trust,  and  wait, 
enduring  as  though  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible. 

A  man  with  a  future  must  discredit  doubt  and 
honour  faith.  He  must  believe  he  can.  God 
never  asks  for  that  which  is  impossible.  Let  a 
man  give  up  intellectual  pride,  ride  down  his 
difficulties,  release  his  hoarded  gains,  break  with 
sin,  bend  his  stubborn  will,  and  have  faith  in 
God. 

“The  word  is  nigh  thee,  in  thy  mouth,  and  in 
thy  heart ;  that  is,  the  word  of  Faith,  which  we 
preach  ;  because  if  thou  shalt  confess  with  thy 
mouth  Jesus  as  Lord,  and  shalt  believe  in  thy 
heart  that  God  raised  Him  from  the  dead,  thou 
shalt  be  saved.”  1 


1  Rom.  10  :  8, 


XIV 


THE  VICTORY  OF  FAITH 

“My  will,  not  Thine,  be  done,  turns  Paradise  into  a  des¬ 
ert  ;  Thy  will,  not  mine,  be  done,  turns  the  desert  into  a 
Paradise,  and  makes  Gethsemane  the  gate  of  heaven.  ” — 
Edmond  de  Pressense. 

Human  life  is  a  battle-field.  There  never  was 
a  victory  without  a  fight.  The  conflict  is  on  ; 
the  battle  is  raging. 

We  see  it  all  around  us.  Wherever  one  looks, 
he  may  behold  struggle  and  contention,  strife 
and  opposition,  aggression  and  resistance.  The 
forces  of  life  are  pitted  against  each  other.  They 
lock  arms  in  the  death  grapple.  There  is  charge 
and  counter- charge,  attack,  assault,  repulse,  re¬ 
newal.  The  wounded,  the  fallen,  the  dying  are 
on  every  side.  We  can  hear  their  groans  and 
shouts  and  sobs  mingled  with  the  noises  of  march¬ 
ing  soldiers  and  the  roar  of  the  cannonade.  The 
battle  is  raging. 

We  see  it  within  us.  One  need  not  go  outside 
of  himself  to  discover  the  conflict.  Every  soul 
is  a  battle-field.  Every  human  heart  is  the  scene 
of  a  terrific  engagement.  There  the  forces  of 
two  worlds  contend  for  the  mastery.  A  law  in 
the  members  wars  against  the  law  in  the  mind. 
Sometimes  our  plight  is  so  desperate  that  we  cry  : 

158 


THE  VICTOPY  OF  FAITH 


159 


“Who  shall  deliver  us  from  the  body  of  this 
death  %  ’  7 

The  conflict  is  not  to  be  lamented.  The  battle 
is  no  blunder.  Some  things  are  worse  than  war. 
The  supremacy  of  evil  is  worse;  the  reign  of 
lawlessness  is  worse ;  the  dominion  of  lust  and 
avarice  is  immeasurably  worse. 

Of  course  peace  is  desirable,  provided  it  be 
honourable  peace  ;  but  never,  when  it  means  the 
surrender  of  principle,  the  sacrifice  of  honour, 
and  the  compromise  of  truth.  There  must  be  no 
peace  that  allows  greed  and  caste,  vice  and  crime 
to  have  their  way.  The  eternal  in  man  can  never 
capitulate. 

Yet  this  is  the  kind  of  peace  wickedness  wants. 
To  a  fighting  church,  that  shows  the  war  spirit 
and  unsheathes  its  sword,  wickedness  cries :  “You 
ought  not  to  fight.  Your  Master  preached  Peace. 
Put  up  your  sword.  They  that  use  the  sword, 
will  perish  by  the  sword.77  Even  the  devil  can 
quote  Scripture.  He  did  it  on  a  certain  historic 
occasion  long  ago,  and  he  probably  still  amuses 
himself  in  the  same  way.  Such  worldly  interest 
in  the  cause  of  Christ  and  such  anxiety  for  the 
church  to  honour  Christ  is  truly  wonderful.  Such 
keen  solicitude  on  the  part  of  the  world,  lest  the 
church  should  betray  its  Master  is  most  remark¬ 
able.  It  reminds  one  of  the  kiss  with  which 
Judas  Iscariot  betrayed  Christ. 

When  the  forces  of  evil  get  pious  one  should 
beware.  When  institutional  vice  lectures  the 
army  of  the  living  God  as  to  how  it  should  con- 


160 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


duct  its  campaign,  and  advises  it  to  quit  fighting 
and  ^just  preach  the  gospel,’’  one  may  rest  as¬ 
sured  the  forces  of  evil  are  more  interested  in 
themselves  than  they  are  in  the  Lord.  They 
want  to  be  let  alone  ;  to  be  allowed  to  work  their 
nefarious  schemes  unmolested,  to  fill  their  coffers 
and  glut  their  capacious  maw  without  restraint. 
Christ  never  prostituted  peace  to  so  base  an  end. 
For  this  sort  of  thing,  He  said,  “I  bring  not 
peace,  but  a  sword.” 

Jesus  calls  for  the  martial  spirit  in  His  follow¬ 
ers.  The  Christian  must  be  something  of  a  war¬ 
rior.  He  is  given  weapons  and  armour  and  a 
war-cry  and  a  call  that  summons  him  to  con¬ 
flict.  The  great  hymns  of  the  church  are  battle 
hymns. 


“  I  was  ever  a  fighter,  so  one  fight  more  ”  — 

The  Christian  can  never  consent  to  a  peace  that 
sacrifices  truth,  nor  yield  to  a  truce  which  be¬ 
trays  righteousness.  The  cross  is  in  the  field  ! 

The  Enemy  is  the  World 

The  victory  to  be  sought  is  u  the  victory  that 
overcometh  the  world.”  1 

It  is  not  the  world  as  God  made  it ;  the  uni¬ 
verse  as  it  came  from  the  Creator’s  hand  ;  the 
earth  as  divine  love  and  care  prepared  it  for 
man’s  home.  This  world  is  perfect.  It  has  a 
charm  no  poet  can  sing  ;  a  beauty  that  flies  the 

1  1  John  5  :  4. 


THE  VICTOKY  OF  FAITH 


161 


painter’s  brush.  Its  blooming  flowers  and  shin¬ 
ing  stars  and  singing  rivers  and  glowing  sunsets 
repeat  the  refrain  of  Genesis.  The  world  is 
u  good.”  It  is  not  the  world  as  God  will  make  it. 
This  world  is  to  be  redeemed.  It  is  to  be  de¬ 
livered  from  the  curse.  Every  wound  will  be 
healed,  every  sorrow  comforted,  every  scar  glori¬ 
fied.  Society  is  to  be  regenerated.  God  did  not 
despair  when  the  world  went  wrong.  His  dream 
for  man  is  coming  to  pass.  Exiled  John  sitting 
on  the  shore  of  lonely  Patmos,  with  the  monoto¬ 
nous  sea  stretching  like  a  prison  wall  around 
him,  caught  a  prophetic  vision  of  this  coming 
world  and  said  :  UI  see  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth.” 

It  is  the  world  which  sin  makes  that  is  to  be 
fought.  It  is  that  world  whose  soil  grows  briers 
and  thorns,  whose  lot  is  sorrow  and  disappoint¬ 
ment,  and  whose  people  suffer  the  curse.  It  is 
the  world  of  disobedience,  hate,  selfishness,  re¬ 
bellion,  in  which  the  soul  surrenders  to  the  senses 
and  the  spirit  is  the  slave  of  lust. 

It  is  the  world  where  wrong  is  insolent,  dis¬ 
honesty  cunning,  greed  brazen  $  the  world  of 
imposture,  deception,  despotism,  calamity,  death. 

This  world  is  the  foe.  It  is  arrayed  against 
everything  dear  to  the  soul.  It  belittles  the 
Bible.  To  be  sure  it  is  willing  for  one  to  be 
amused  by  Sacred  Scripture.  It  is  gracious 
enough  to  allow  him  to  retain  the  Bible  provided 
he  treat  it  as  literature  and  think  of  it  as  a  story 
book  ;  but  it  says  :  u  If  you  are  daring  enough  to 


162 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


believe  what  is  in  that  book  ;  and  to  try  to  live 
as  if  it  were  true,  yon  shall  not  have  it.” 

It  is  offended  by  the  Saviour’s  cross.  It  be¬ 
littles  Calvary.  To  the  church  the  cross  is  the 
power  of  God  and  the  wisdom  of  God,  but  to  the 
world  it  is  a  stumbling-block  and  foolishness. 
It  gives  the  lie  to  eternal  hope.  It  declares  man 
has  no  future  but  the  dust.  It  says  :  “  Let  us 
eat,  drink,  and  be  merry  ;  for  to-morrow  we  die.” 

This  world  is  the  enemy.  It  is  a  powerful  foe, 
a  formidable  antagonist.  Its  craft  is  great,  its 
resources  inexhaustible,  its  armies  imposing. 
It  fights  with  the  latest  weapons.  Its  methods  of 
warfare  are  the  most  approved.  Its  uniforms  are 
brilliant  and  its  martial  display  dazzling  and 
bewildering.  What  can  the  soul  hope  to  accom¬ 
plish  in  a  conflict  against  this  mighty,  insolent, 
and  aggressive  foe  $  The  world  looks  invincible. 

The  World  Will  be  Defeated 

There  is  no  note  of  alarm  in  the  war-cry  of 
Christendom.  “This  is  the  victory  that  over- 
cometh  the  world.”  It  is  a  bold  prophecy,  but 
it  is  a  true  one. 

This  world  which  sin  has  made  and  in  which 
sin  reigns  will  be  overthrown.  Its  dominion  will 
fade,  its  thrones  will  crumble,  its  armies  will  be 
vanquished.  The  world  of  evil  is  doomed.  Its 
power  will  decay,  its  gold  will  canker,  its  gains 
will  rust,  its  gaudy  trappings  and  guilty  pleas¬ 
ures  will  turn  black  in  death. 

The  soul  will  rout  the  senses,  the  seen  will  sur- 


THE  VICTORY  OF  FAITH 


163 


render  to  the  unseen,  time  will  capitulate  to 
eternity. 

Everything  that  is  wrong  will  fail.  One  may 
make  up  his  mind  to  that. 

The  defeat  of  evil  may  be  delayed.  The  battle 
may  rage  through  century  after  century ;  but 
God  does  not  get  tired.  The  eternal  is  a  stranger 
to  weariness.  “  A  thousand  years  in  His  sight 
are  but  as  yesterday  when  it  is  passed,  and  as  a 
watch  in  the  night. ”  Only  truth  survives.  Let 
us  not  grow  discouraged.  Let  us  not  mistake  a 
skirmish  for  an  engagement.  We  look  at  one 
blackened,  blasted  stalk  and  forget  the  waving 
fields  of  golden  grain  that  billow  the  limitless 
prairie. 

Evil  has  only  a  temporary  lease.  Its  years  are 
numbered.  This  world  built  on  caste  and  greed 
and  lust  and  violence;  this  world  of  injustice, 
debauchery  and  despotism,  must  go.  The  fiat  of 
Omnipotence  has  gone  forth  against  it.  Every¬ 
thing  that  is  wrong  will  fail. 

“  Right  is  right,  as  God  is  God, 

And  right  the  day  will  win.” 

As  one  lines  up  in  this  fight,  let  him  remember 
that.  If  he  wishes  to  be  on  the  winning  side  let 
him  fall  in  behind  the  cross  and  fight  for  what  is 
right. 

The  Victory  is  to  be  Won  by  Faith 

This  is  the  victory — “even  faith.”  The  vic¬ 
tory  of  faith  is  the  only  victory  worth  winning. 


164 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


It  is  faitli ;  not  martial  spirit,  not  military 
prowess,  not  impregnable  position,  not  war-like 
equipment,  but  faith.  It  is  not  wealth  nor  num¬ 
bers  nor  culture  nor  knowledge  nor  influence, 
but  faith  that  wins.  It  is  the  faith  of  tried, 
tempted,  timid  mortals ;  half  the  time  tempted 
to  take  refuge  in  flight,  sometimes  wounding 
themselves  with  their  own  weapons,  sometimes 
mistaking  comrades  for  foes,  often  fleeing  the 
field  at  the  first  sight  of  the  enemy.  Neverthe¬ 
less  faith  is  the  secret  of  victory. 

It  is  a  great  thing  to  say  of  faith,  but  it  is  a 
thing  that  is  repeated  and  emphasized  on  every 
page  of  Revelation.  u  All  things  are  possible  to 
him  that  believeth. ’  ’  If  we  have  faith  as  a  grain 
of  mustard  seed,  we  may  say  to  this  mountain : 
u  Remove  and  be  cast  into  the  sea,”  and  it  shall 
be  done.  Faith  is  the  great  acquisition  for  life’s 
conflict.  When  the  enemy  temporarily  over¬ 
comes  us  and  drives  us  from  the  field,  it  is  not 
because  we  are  few  and  he  is  many,  — that  is  often 
the  case  ;  it  is  not  because  our  position  is  poor 
and  his  commanding — that  too  is  often  the  case. 
The  real  reason  of  temporary  reverse  is  the  fail¬ 
ure  of  faith.  Peter  walked  on  the  water  to  go  to 
Jesus  as  long  as  his  faith  lasted.  When  faith 
failed,  he  began  to  sink.  Christ’s  rebuke  was 
not :  “  Wherefore  didst  thou  start !  ’’but  u  Where¬ 
fore  didst  thou  doubt?  ” 

All  that  God  asks  of  a  man  is  that  he  have 
faith  in  Him.  He  does  not  ask  him  to  be  an  ex¬ 
pert  but  to  trust.  He  will  plan  the  campaign, 


THE  YICTOEY  OF  FAITH 


165 


He  will  direct  the  battle,  He  will  provide  arms 
and  ammunition  and  reinforcements.  Man’s  part 
is  to  have  faith. 

Yonder  is  a  weak  man  in  a  tattered  uniform. 
He  is  awkward  in  the  use  of  his  weapons,  and  he 
is  surrounded  by  a  host  of  foes ;  but  he  has  faith, 
and  there  where  he  stands,  the  tide  of  battle  sets 
towards  the  cross. 

There  is  a  weak  woman.  She  is  timid  and  re¬ 
tiring  and  unknown.  She  can  do  little  but  pray  : 
but  before  her  the  forces  of  evil  fall  back  in  con¬ 
fusion.  She  has  faith.  Faith  is  the  victory  ! 

“  And  were  this  world  all  devils  o’er, 

And  waiting  to  devour  us, 

We’ll  lay  it  not  to  heart  so  sore, 

Not  they  can  overpower  us ; 

And  let  the  Prince  of  Ill 
Look  grim  as  e’er  he  will, 

He  harms  us  not  a  whit, 

For  why  ?  His  doom  is  writ, 

One  little  word  shall  slay  him,” 

How  Does  Faith  Conquer  the  World? 

It  discovers  allies.  Part  of  the  host  have 
crossed  the  flood,  but  they  have  not  gone  out  of 
the  fight.  They  are  still  a  part  of  the  army  of 
the  Lord  in  this  campaign  for  the  destruction  of 
evil  ;  and  they  are  all  the  more  formidable  be¬ 
cause  they  are  invisible.  Faith  discovers  this 
army  of  the  skies.  Jesus  once  told  His  fearful 
disciples  that  He  had  but  to  ask  and  God  would 
send  Him  twelve  legions  of  angels.  Had  the 


166 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


ablest  general  the  mightiest  army  ever  marshalled 
on  earth,  he  might  well  hesitate  to  go  into 
battle  against  twelve  legions  of  angels. 

The  king  of  Syria  wanted  to  capture  the 
prophet  Elisha.  He  sent  to  Dothan  horses  and 
chariots  and  a  great  host.  They  came  by  night 
and  compassed  the  city.  It  was  rather  a  formida¬ 
ble  force  to  send  against  one  man,  and  that 
man  only  a  preacher. 

The  next  morning  when  Elisha’s  servant  looked 
out  and  saw  the  enemy,  his  heart  died  within 
him,  and  he  said,  u  Alas,  my  master;  how  shall 
we  do?”  Then  Elisha  asked  God  to  open  the 
young  man’s  eyes  and  let  him  see  the  real  army  in 
the  field.  The  Lord  opened  the  eyes  of  the  young 
man  and  he  saw  that  the  mountain  was  full  of 
horses  and  chariots  of  fire  round  about  Elisha. 
Then  the  prophet  prayed  God  to  smite  the  foe, 
and  this  invisible,  invincible,  angelic  body-guard 
of  the  prophet  drove  the  army  of  Syria  headlong 
from  the  field,  until  the  rout  became  a  panic. 

Faith  has  allies.  It  discovers  these  legions  of  the 
skies  and  exclaims  :  i  c  Seeing  we  are  compassed 
about  with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us 
lay  aside  every  weight,  and  the  sin  which  doth  so 
easily  beset  us,  and  let  us  run  with  patience  the 
race  that  is  set  before  us,  looking  unto  Jesus  the 
author  and  perfector  of  our  faith.”  1 

Furthermore,  faith  acquires  power.  It  con¬ 
nects  with  the  Almighty  as  the  electric  wire 
with  the  power  house.  God’s  promise  is  : 

1  Heb.  12  ;  1,  2. 


THE  VICTORY  OF  FAITH 


167 


“  You  shall  have  power.”  It  is  His  to  furnish 
the  power,  it  is  faith’s  to  receive  it.  He 
whose  faith  in  God  remains  unshaken  will 
overcome  the  world,  because  he  has  become  a 
spiritual  battery  charged  with  omnipotence. 

Faith  also  releases  power.  It  makes  it  pos¬ 
sible  for  God’s  personality  to  enter  the  campaign. 
We  are  told  of  a  certain  place,  that  Christ  could 
do  no  mighty  work  there  because  of  the  people’s 
unbelief.  God  does  not  work  in  an  atmosphere 
of  doubt.  Faith  is  the  quality  that  loosens  out 
omnipotence.  Faith  is  the  track  along  which  the 
mighty  energy  of  God  runs  to  the  overthrow  of 
evil.  Nothing  is  too  hard  for  God,  if  only  His 
people  have  faith. 

Faith  is  already  overthrowing  the  world.  As 
the  eye  sweeps  the  field,  it  is  not  difficult  to  see 
that  the  battle  is  for  the  good.  It  is  a  long  dis¬ 
tance  back  to  that  first  Palm  Sunday,  when  Jesus 
rode  into  Jerusalem,  listening  to  the  hosannas  of 
a  crowd  who  to-morrow  were  to  shout  “Crucify 
Him!”  What  a  small  beginning  was  there! 
How  mean  and  weak  and  helpless  it  looked  ! 
What  was  there  in  that  humble  group  to  stir  a 
world  7  The  change  has  been  marvellous.  The 
cross  has  become  the  inspiration  of  the  world’s 
finest  civilization.  The  foremost  nations  of  the 
earth  delight  to  call  themselves  “Christian.” 
One-third  of  the  human  race  worships  Jesus  as 
God.  The  choicest  of  the  youth  of  the  nation  are 
volunteering,  in  larger  numbers  than  the  church 
can  send,  to  go  to  non-Christian  lands,  to  fight 


168 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


the  battles  of  the  hero  of  Palm  Sunday.  Faith  is 
already  winning,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  of 
its  ultimate  and  complete  victory. 

Not  only  so,  but  faith  is  the  victory.  It  dis¬ 
covers  allies,  it  acquires  power,  it  releases  power, 
and  it  is  conquering  the  world.  But  that  is  not 
all.  That  is  not  even  the  daring  thing  about 
faith. 

Faith  is  already  victory— just  faith.  When 
one  reaches  the  point  where  he  can  say  :  “I  be¬ 
lieve,”  he  has  conquered  the  adversary.  The 
citadel  of  the  senses  falls,  and  the  spiritual  takes 
possession  of  the  fortress.  The  eternal  in  man 
has  won  the  battle. 

Let  us  understand  what  the  victory  is.  Greater 
than  the  calamity  of  conscious  defeat,  is  the  folly 
of  a  supposed  victory,  won  at  tremendous  cost, 
that  turns  out  to  be  defeat. 

Victory  is  not  siding  with  the  majority.  It  is 
not  getting  on  the  world’s  side.  It  is  not  outwit¬ 
ting  a  competitor.  It  is  not  getting  schemes 
through.  He  is  defeated  already  who  champions 
a  bad  cause,  who  is  guilty  of  wrong-doing,  who 
stains  his  honour  or  slays  his  conscience. 

To  be  true  and  to  do  right  is  to  be  victorious. 

This  is  what  John  meant,  when  he  wrote  : 
<  1  Whosoever  believeth  that  Jesus  is  the  Christ  is 
born  of  God.”  When  one  reaches  the  point 
where  he  can  see  the  divine  in  Jesus  Christ,  he 
has  conquered  the  world.  When  he  gets  where 
Christ’s  mind  is  his,  where  Christ’s  ideals  control 
him,  where  Christ’s  motives  sway  him,  where 


THE  VICTORY  OF  FAITH 


169 


Christ’s  cross  inspires  him,  the  world  has  lost  its 
power  to  rule  him. 

To  have  enough  faith  to  resist  temptation,  to  be 
faithful  to  duty,  to  say  “no’’  to  lust  and  greed, 
to  keep  sweet  under  trial  and  patient  under  afflic¬ 
tion,  to  be  courageous  before  peril,  and  to  keep 
honour  unstained  and  conscience  uncorrupted  is 
to  be  the  victor.  Such  an  one  has  already  over¬ 
thrown  the  world.  He  has  driven  iniquity  into 
retreat  and  routed  the  adversary. 

A  man’s  weapons  may  be  old-fashioned,  his 
uniform  worn  and  faded  and  tattered,  and  his 
supplies  meagre.  The  world  may  despise  him. 
It  may  see  nothing  in  him  but  the  peasant  of 
Galilee  ;  but  the  victory  is  not  in  what  doth  ap¬ 
pear.  Faith  is  the  victory. 

I  am  only  one,  but  I  believe.  I  am  awkward 
with  the  weapons  of  war,  but  I  believe.  I  am 
often  frightened  and  discouraged,  but  I  believe. 
I  believe  in  God.  I  believe  in  His  Son  Jesus 
Christ.  I  believe  in  my  great  Commander.  This 
is  the  victory  of  the  soul  over  the  senses.  It  is 
eternal  triumph. 


XV 


FAITH  AND  THE  INFINITE 

“  We  keep  the  watch  together, 

Doubt  and  I, 

In  stress  of  midnight  weather, 

Doubt  and  I 

Stand  peering  into  darkness, 

Foreboding  rock  and  shoal ; 

Or  shrinking  in  our  weakness, 

From  waves  that  o’er  us  roll, 

“  We  pace  the  deck  together, 

Faith  and  I, 

And  catch  in  darkest  weather 
The  far  off  eastern  sky, 

Where,  robed  in  dazzling  splendour, 

Shine  planet,  star,  and  sun, 

Where,  lost  in  truth’s  eternal, 

Doubt,  Faith,  and  I  are  one.” 

— Heinrich  Heine. 

Faith  is  the  invisible  link  between  the  finite 
and  the  infinite. 

In  writing  to  the  Corinthian  Christians,  Paul 
said  :  “  Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  neither 
have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things 
which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love 
Him.”  1 

He  seems  to  be  getting  rather  far  from  shore. 

1  1  Cor.  2  :  9. 

170 


FAITH  AND  THE  INFINITE 


171 


He  has  lifted  anchor  and  set  sail  in  the  ship  of 
faith  on  the  sea  of  the  infinite.  Will  he  ever 
reach  port  ?  He  is  boldly  and  baldly  and  boast¬ 
fully  proclaiming  his  acceptance  of  and  adherence 
to  a  religion  which  is  incomprehensible.  He  is 
subscribing  to  what  he  has  never  seen  and  never 
can  see,  has  never  heard  and  never  can  hear,  has 
not  imagined  and  in  the  nature  of  the  case  can 
never  adequately  imagine. 

Has  he  lost  his  reason  ?  Has  he  gone  mad  with 
fanaticism  ?  His  are  not  empty  words.  He  backs 
what  he  says  with  his  all.  He  says,  “What 
things  were  gain  to  me,  those  I  counted  loss  for 
Christ.  Yea,  doubtless,  and  I  count  all  things 
but  loss,  for  the  excellency  of  the  knowledge  of 
Christ  Jesus  my  Lord.’7 1  Paul  has  sold  out  the 
finite  for  the  infinite.  He  has  given  up  every¬ 
thing  and  set  sail  in  the  ship  of  faith  on  the  sea 
of  infinity  for  the  shore  of  eternity. 

In  this  we  are  face  to  face  with  the  fact  that 
Christianity  is  a  religion  which  requires  faith  in 
the  infinite.  It  proposes  more  than  reason  can 
handle.  It  demands  that  we  accept  what  we  can¬ 
not  understand,  seek  what  we  have  never  seen, 
and  serve  and  obey  one  whom  we  cannot  com¬ 
prehend.  Precisely  this  is  the  difficulty  which 
Christianity  presents  to  many  honest  minds. 

Rebellion  Against  the  Infinite 

There  are  those  who  rebel  at  the  infinite  ;  who 
are  unwilling  to  stultify  themselves  by  professing 

1  Philemon  3,  7,  8. 


172 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


to  believe  wliat  they  cannot  understand.  They 
regard  such  an  act  as  hypocrisy,  and  they  are  not 
willing  to  be  hypocrites  even  u  to  get  saved.” 
Christianity  may  or  may  not  be  true.  They  have 
no  means  of  knowing,  so  they  stay  near  the  shore. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Phillips  Verner,  for  some 
years  a  missionary  in  Central  Africa,  is  the 
author  of  a  volume  entitled,  u  Pioneering  in  Cen¬ 
tral  Africa.”  In  the  book  Mr.  Verner  relates  an 
incident  which  took  place  on  the  journey  out. 
He  fell  into  conversation  one  day  with  a  big 
trader,  whose  tone  and  attitude  to  religion  were 
friendly  and  respectful,  but  who  said  that  he 
would  not  believe  what  he  could  not  understand  ; 
and  that  the  Bible  and  most  religious  creeds  re¬ 
quired  belief  in  doctrines  which  were  incompre¬ 
hensible  mysteries.  This  is  precisely  many  a 
man’s  difficulty.  He  meets  the  infinite  with  a 
shrug  of  the  shoulders.  Is  there  a  God  ?  How 
should  he  know?  Eye  hath  not  seen  Him.  Is 
there  a  heaven  ?  How  can  man  tell  ?  Earth  hath 
not  heard  Him.  The  doctrines  of  the  virgin 
birth,  the  new  birth,  the  dual  nature  of  Christ, 
the  resurrection  are  incomprehensible  mysteries. 
Can  a  man  believe  what  he  does  understand  ? 

How  was  the  missionary  to  meet  the  objection  ? 
He  asked  :  * 1  Then  if  you  found  anything  in  which 
you  had  to  believe,  although  you  could  neither 
understand  nor  demonstrate  it,  that  objection 
would  be  removed,  would  it  not  ?  ” 

“  Yes,”  said  the  trader,  u  but  I  cannot  believe 
that  any  such  thing  exists.” 


FAITH  AND  THE  INFINITE 


173 


1  ‘Will  yon  name  to  me  the  highest  number  that 
you  can  possibly  think  of  ?  ” 

The  man  paused  to  think  and  soon  saw  that 
whatever  number  he  named,  there  would  be  a 
higher  number  just  above  it.  If  he  named  a 
trillion,  there  was  a  trillion  and  one. 

u  But  do  you  not  know,”  Mr.  Verner  con¬ 
tinued,  i  i  that  up  somewhere  there  must  be  that 
high  number?  You  know  it  exists,  although  you 
can  neither  name  the  number  nor  demonstrate  its 
existence.  So  it  is  with  the  nature  and  attributes 
of  God.  We  can  no  more  comprehend  Him  than 
we  can  name  that  number,  but  we  can  conceive 
of  His  existence,  and  can  imagine  some  of  His 
attributes. ’  ’ 

Dejection  of  the  infinite  because  it  is  incompre¬ 
hensible  is  not  argument  but  evasion.  We  are 
continually  accepting  the  incomprehensible.  I 
cannot  understand  the  forces  of  nature,  but  I  do 
not  for  that  reason  discredit  them.  I  do  not 
understand  my  own  dual  nature,  why  should  I 
expect  to  understand  Christ’ s  ?  The  infinite  and 
unknowable  are  crowding  in  upon  us  on  every 
side.  Eye  sees  not,  ear  hears  not,  but  we  believe. 
We  cannot  help  believing.  There  is  nothing  in 
the  infinite  to  stagger  faith.  There  must  be  some 
other  reason  for  rejection. 

Desecration  of  the  Finite 

Back  of  this  doubt  of  the  infinite  is  a  dese¬ 
cration  of  the  finite.  The  story  of  the  big  trader 
and  the  young  missionary  is  not  finished. 


174 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


# 

The  trader  finally  admitted  to  a  belief  in  God, 
but  said  he  found  that  the  standard  of  Christ  and 
the  Bible  was  not  practical.  i  ‘  I  am  a  trader 
with  native  Africans,”  he  said.  “  I  have  to  sell 
them  immense  quantities  of  rum  of  the  vilest 
quality  in  exchange  for  their  goods,  although  I 
know  the  stuff  ruins  whole  tribes  of  them.  But 
suppose  I  stop  selling  rum  ;  then  my  rivals  keep 
it  up,  the  company  I  serve  calls  me  a  fool  for  my 
conscience,  I  lose  my  position,  and  am  thrown 
back  on  England  without  work,  and  drift  into 
poverty.”  Mr.  Verner  asked  him  what  he 
thought  of  Christ.  “  He  was  a  great  and  good 
man,”  was  the  reply,  “and  I  only  wish  I  had 
power  enough  to  follow  Him  as  I  see  some  few 
people  do.” 

In  closing  the  story  Mr.  Verner  says,  “  I  shall 
never  forget  that  Englishman’s  departure  into  the 
darkness  of  Africa  with  such  a  tribute  to  the 
Master  on  his  lips  and  such  a  trade  upon  his 
hands.” 

It  was  the  trade  that  was  his  trouble  ;  not  the 
God  he  could  not  understand,  but  the  trade  he 
understood  too  well.  This  is  the  real  difficulty 
with  many  who  go  religiously  lame  with  in¬ 
tellectual  troubles.  They  rebel  at  the  infinite 
because  they  desecrate  the  finite.  They  deny 
what  they  cannot  understand  because  they  despise 
and  defy  what  they  can  and  do  understand.  If 
they  would  serve  God  in  the  known,  it  would  be 
easier  to  trust  Him  in  the  unknown. 

Christianity  is  not  all  infinite  mysteries.  There 


FAITH  AND  THE  INFINITE  175 


are  daily  duties.  Honesty  has  no  intellectual  dif¬ 
ficulties.  It  is  simply  a  question  of  telling  a  lie 
or  the  truth.  Purity  is  not  an  inscrutable  mys¬ 
tery.  It  is  merely  a  matter  of  obeying  the  seventh 
commandment. 

Faith  in  the  infinite  is  not  unreasonable.  The 
objection  is  a  quibble.  u  If  any  man  will  do  My 
will,  he  shall  know.”  1  Let  one  live  right  and 
his  intellectual  difficulties  will  dissipate. 

The  Infinite  Creates  Faith 

Faith  in  the  infinite  is  not  only  possible,  but 
the  infinite  instead  of  hindering,  helps  faith.  It 
is  not  difficulty,  but  assistance  ;  not  calamity, 
but  asset.  Instead  of  shaming,  it  glorifies  faith. 

Man  may  admire,  but  he  cannot  worship  what 
he  comprehends,  for  he  knows  that  what  he  com¬ 
prehends  is  no  greater  than  himself.  It  is  there¬ 
fore  unworthy  of  worship.  God  must  be  in¬ 
scrutable  if  He  is  to  remain  God.  The  finite 
cannot  contain  the  infinite  any  more  than  a 
thimble  can  hold  the  ocean.  Infinity  is  not  a 
blemish  of  the  Deity.  It  is  the  sure  mark  of 
divinity.  ‘  i  Canst  thou  by  searching  find  out 
God?  Canst  thou  find  out  the  Almighty  unto 
perfection  f  ”  2 

If  I  could  comprehend  God,  one  of  two  things 
would  be  true.  I  should  be  God  or  God  would 
be  but  man. 

Beligion  is  search  for  the  infinite.  It  is  the 
soul’s  quest  for  the  eternal.  It  is  faith’s  aspi- 


1  John  7  :  17. 


2  Job  11  :  7. 


176 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


ration  for  that  which  eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear 
heard  nor  heart  conceived. 

Any  religion  which  reduces  its  infinite  pro¬ 
portions  to  finite  measurements,  ceases  to  be  a 
religion  and  becomes  a  cult.  Men  may  go 
through  its  ritual  and  pay  tithes  for  its  support, 
but  it  lacks  power.  The  effort  to  get  rid  of  the 
supernatural  in  Christianity  is  an  effort  to  get 
rid  of  Christianity.  There  are  efforts  to  get  rid 
of  the  supernatural  in  the  Bible.  Suppose  they 
succeed.  We  retain  a  book,  but  we  have  lost 
the  Word  of  God.  There  are  efforts  to  get  rid  of 
the  supernatural  in  Christ.  Suppose  they  suc¬ 
ceed.  A  man  remains,  but  we  have  lost  Christ 
as  a  divine  Saviour.  Man  worships  only  the 
infinite. 

And  he  must  worship,  for  he  is  a  religious 
creature.  He  must  be  puzzled  about  something. 
He  may  reject  Christianity  because  he  cannot 
understand  it,  but  he  will  take  up  with  some¬ 
thing  else  that  is  incomprehensible.  If  he  dis¬ 
card  faith  and  the  infinite,  he  will  substitute 
credulity  and  mysticism,  or  curiosity  and  the 
occult. 

This  is  precisely  what  some  are  doing.  There 
are  people  who  cannot  believe  in  Christianity 
because  of  Bethlehem  and  Calvary  and  the  res¬ 
urrection,  and  so  they  darken  the  room  and  have 
table  rappings.  They  cannot  believe  in  heaven, 
so  they  take  to  palmistry.  A  charming  woman 
held  forth  at  great  length  about  two  lives  that 
had  been  saved  by  palmistry  !  In  excusing  a 


FAITH  AND  THE  INFINITE 


177 


gentleman  who  was  running  claft  over  spiritual¬ 
ism  some  one  said,  “But  you  know  his  son  died 
and  you  can’t  blame  him  for  seeking  comfort.” 
As  if  there  were  no  comfort  in  the  resurrection 
of  Christ  from  the  dead. 

What  a  fall !  What  a  retreat !  What  a  defeat 
for  reason !  The  supernatural  has  been  surren¬ 
dered  for  the  superstitious. 

The  infinite  is  no  hindrance  to  faith.  It  helps 
faith.  It  makes  faith  possible.  God  is  not  arbi¬ 
trary  when  He  asks  man  to  believe  what  he 
cannot  comprehend.  He  knows  that  worship  is 
possible  only  in  the  presence  of  the  infinite. 

If  there  had  been  no  more  in  Christ  than  man 
sees  and  hears,  He  would  not  be  worshipped. 
Because  He  towers  beyond  us,  successive  genera¬ 
tions  have  been  saying  with  Simon  Peter,  i  i  Thou 
art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living  God. 7  7  The 
gospel’s  infinity  is  its  credential.  Man  not  only 
believes  what  he  cannot  understand,  but  he  be¬ 
lieves  it  because  he  cannot  understand  it. 

Is  even  this  all  ?  Have  we  reached  the  limit 
by  saying  not  merely  that  there  may  be  faith  in 
the  infinite,  but  that  there  must  be  faith  in  the 
infinite?  Is  it  not  possible  to  rejoice  in  the 
infinite  ? 

Faith  Has  the  Infinite 

Faith  possesses  itself  of  the  infinite.  It  not 
only  commits  us  to  God ;  it  also  commits  God 
to  us. 

One  can  apprehend  what  he  cannot  compre* 


178 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


bend.  He  can  ride  on  a  ship  he  cannot  steer. 
He  can  depend  on  a  force  he  cannot  control. 
Because  the  infinite  is  inscrutable,  we  need  not 
conclude  it  is  unusable.  We  do  not  understand 
electricity,  but  we  reach  out  and  harness  it  and 
it  serves  us.  We  do  not  conclude  that  the  little 
we  use  is  all  the  electricity  there  is  in  the  world ; 
nor  that  when  we  have  used  it,  we  have  con¬ 
sumed  it.  In  the  same  way  faith  reaches  out 
and  lays  hold  of  God,  and  He  blesses  us.  We 
must  not  conclude  that  what  we  experience  of 
Him  is  all  there  is  of  God,  nor  that  God  is  less 
because  He  has  been  used.  Faith  connects  with 
the  infinite. 

It  is  faith  in  the  infinite  that  man  needs  for  the 
finite.  Man  needs  more  than  his  own  short  arm 
and  perplexed  j  udgment  for  the  conflict.  Human 
strength  is  soon  exhausted.  To  resist  tempta¬ 
tion  he  must  be  reenforced  with  eternal  right¬ 
eousness.  To  be  honest  he  must  come  under  the 
control  of  infinite  obligations.  The  man  who 
desecrates  the  finite  is  he  who  lacks  faith  in  the 
infinite.  Let  him  believe  in  the  incomprehen 
sible  and  he  will  quit  his  dirty  work. 

This  was  what  the  great  apostle  meant  when 
he  said,  “Eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  the 
things  which  God  hath  prepared  for  them  that 
love  Him.  But  God  hath  revealed  them  unto  us 
by  His  Spirit.”  We  are  not  dependent  on  eye 
and  ear  and  reason.  God  has  given  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  reveal  to  man  the  infinite.  Christ  said  * 


FAITH  AND  THE  INFINITE 


179 


1 1  It  is  expedient  for  you  that  I  go  away,  for  if  I 
go  not  away,  the  Comforter  will  not  come  unto 
you. ’  ’  The  Spirit  reveals  to  the  finite  the  infinite. 
The  man  of  faith  can  recall  times  when  the  in¬ 
finite  came  into  his  life  and  strengthened  him. 
It  was  an  hour  of  temptation,  but  he  loved  God 
and  trusted  Him,  and  help  came.  It  was  a  time 
of  sorrow,  but  he  loved  God  and  trusted  Him, 
and  was  comforted.  It  was  an  occasion  of  great 
perplexity,  but  he  loved  God  and  trusted  Him, 
and  light  came.  He  cannot  explain  it,  no  more 
can  he  doubt  it.  He  stands  up  from  his  struggle, 
victorious,  saying,  “I  know  whom  I  have  be¬ 
lieved.’7  Thus  the  infinite,  instead  of  killing 
faith,  confirms  it. 

The  Gospel  of  the  Infinite 

There  is  a  gospel  of  infinite  measurements. 
Faith  rejoices  that  God  is  incomprehensible,  for 
that  fact  is  the  assurance  that  He  will  remain 
God. 

Christianity  is  true  because  no  plummet  can 
fathom  its  depths,  no  wing  can  soar  to  its  heights, 
no  creed  can  embrace  its  vastness,  no  ritual  can 
express  its  effulgent  glory. 

Will  a  man  turn  away  from  all  this  because 
he  cannot  understand  God  7  Will  he  lose  it  all 
because  he  cannot  reduce  it  to  his  brief  time¬ 
tables  7 

He  is  after  what  the  eye  can  see  and  the  ear 
can  hear.  He  believes  in  substantial  values  that 
hands  can  touch  and  the  markets  will  respect. 


180 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Some  day  there  will  be  a  lire  and  his  house  wTill 
go  up  in  smoke.  He  will  be  poorer  then.  Some 
day  the  markets  will  stagger  and  stocks  will 
tumble  and  he  will  be  poorer  still.  Some  day 
death  will  come  creeping  on  and  take  all  in 
sight,  and  penniless  and  unshriven  he  will  go 
out  into  eternity.  He  will  be  unutterably  poor 
then.  It  is  sane  to  seek  the  infinite,  to  lay  hold 
of  the  eternal.  God  will  not  disappoint  us.  It 
is  wise  to  forsake  doubts  and  follow  faiths. 
If  one  can  do  no  more,  let  him  say  with  the 
man  of  the  gospel  story,  “Lord,  I  believe,  help 
Thou  mine  unbelief.77 

This  little  cabin  is  not  all.  This  dim  sky -light 
is  not  all.  These  tired  arms  and  weary  feet  are 
not  all.  “God  hath  prepared.77  Christ  has 
gone  to  prepare,  and  when  He  comes  again  we 
shall  exchange  the  cabin  for  a  mansion  and  the 
sky-light  for  eternal  day.  God’s  provisions  are 
on  a  Godlike  scale.  There  are  no  meagre  meas¬ 
urements,  but  infinite  proportions,  so  that  when 
at  last  we  step  inside  and  look  around  we  shall 
say  :  “A  God  hath  builded  this.77 

It  is  a  great  inheritance.  Gather  together  all 
the  treasures  of  sight,  all  that  is  fair  and  beauti¬ 
ful.  Gather  together  all  the  treasures  of  sound, 
all  sweet  harmonies.  Add  to  these  all  the  treas¬ 
ures  of  the  heart,  all  dear  loves  and  happy 
fancies.  Beggar  the  banks  of  earth.  Ransack 
the  treasuries  of  time.  Pile  them  all  in  one. 

Then  double  them.  Then  treble  them.  Then 
quadruple  them.  Then  multiply  them  a  hun- 


FAITH  AND  THE  INFINITE 


181 


dredfold.  Then  multiply  them  a  thousandfold. 
Then  multiply  them  by  thousands  of  thousands. 
Then  multiply  them  by  all  the  mathematics  of  all 
the  ages  — 

“  And  still  the  soul  a  far-off  glory  sees ; 

Strange  music  hears. 

A  something,  not  of  earth,  still  haunts  the  breeze, 
The  sun  and  spheres. 

“All  things  that  be,  all  thought,  all  love,  all  joy, 
Spellbind  the  man, 

As  once  the  growing  boy, 

And  point  afar,  — 

“  Point  to  some  land  of  endless,  endless  truth, 

Of  light  and  life, 

Where  souls  renewed  in  an  immortal  youth, 

Shall  know  the  Infinite.” 


XVI 


THE  FATHERHOOD  OF  GOD 

“  God  is  the  green  in  every  blade, 

The  health  in  every  boy  and  maid  ; 

In  yonder  sunrise  flag  He  blooms 
Above  a  nation’s  well-earned  tombs  ; 

That  empty  sleeve  His  arm  contains  ; 

That  blushing  scar  His  anger  drains  ; 

That  flaunting  cheek  beneath  the  lamp 
He  hoists  for  succour  from  a  heart, 

Where  love  maintains  a  wasted  camp 
Till  love  arrives  to  take  its  part ; 

That  bloodless  face  against  the  pane 
Goes  whitening  all  the  murky  street 
With  God’s  own  dread,  lest  hunger  gain 
Upon  His  love’s  woe  burdened  feet.” 

— John  Weiss. 

The  Fatherhood  of  God  is  the  Deity’s  fullest 
proof  of  and  strongest  plea  for  the  eternal  in  man. 

God  is  a  father.  To  discover  that  is  to  be 
saved.  God  is  more  than  u  infinite,  eternal,  and 
unchangeable  in  His  being,  wisdom,  power, 
holiness,  justice,  goodness  and  truth.”  He  is  a 
father.  God  is  more  than  a  just  judge,  a  mighty 
creator,  a  supreme  intelligence,  an  invincible 
ruler,  the  world’s  master  mind  and  resistless 
force.  God  is  a  father.  “I  will  receive  you, 
and  will  be  a  father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my 
sons  and  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty.”  1 

1  2  Cor.  6  : 17,  18. 

182 


THE  FATHERHOOD  OF  GOD  183 


This  is  the  highest  vision  man  has  of  God,  and 
he  is  not  likely  to  have  a  higher.  After  one  has 
called  Him  u  Father,  ”  what  higher,  holier, 
dearer,  diviner  thing  remains  for  him  to  say 
about  God  ?  He  is  Creator,  Preserver,  Re¬ 
deemer  ;  He  makes  all,  keeps  all,  saves  all,  rules 
all ;  He  is  omnipotent,  omniscient,  omnipresent, 
but  what  of  it  ?  If  this  be  all  God  is,  I  may  be 
no  more  to  Him  than  the  dust  on  the  highway  or 
the  flags  in  the  marshes.  What  is  God?  The 
Spirit  in  our  hearts  is  crying,  u  Abba,  Father.” 

The  fatherhood  of  God  is  the  greatest  truth  of 
religion.  It  includes  all  other  truths,  not  as  a 
vessel  holds  its  contents,  but  as  a  cause  contains 
its  results.  One  may  have  a  decent  creed  about 
himself,  his  neighbour,  the  world,  his  work, 
destiny,  but  if  he  have  a  low  view  about  God,  all 
is  spoiled.  He  is  like  one  who  holds  in  his  hand 
a  bouquet  of  cut  flowers.  They  are  beautiful  and 
fragrant,  but  their  beauty  will  wither  and  their 
fragrance  die,  for  they  are  severed  from  the 
source  of  life.  So  it  is  with  any  creed  which 
fails  to  connect  with  the  fatherhood  of  God. 
What  one  thinks  about  God  determines  what  he 
thinks  about  himself,  his  neighbour,  his  work, 
the  world,  destiny.  The  finest  thought  one  can 
have  of  God  is  fatherhood. 

Whence  comes  this  thought  ?  How  did  man 
acquire  the  belief  that  God  is  his  father?  He 
did  not  reason  it  out  for  himself.  Man  is  not  the 
discoverer  of  the  fatherhood  of  God.  If  history 
shows  anything,  it  is  that  the  God  man  finds, 


184 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


when  left  to  liimself,  is  more  foe  than  friend. 
Fears  weave  a  veil  across  the  face  of  God.  Guilty 
conscience  sounds  its  alarm  and  cries  that  God  is 
a  peril.  Fallen  human  nature  flees  from  God’ s 
presence  and  calls  the  rocks  and  hills  to  fall  on 
it  and  hide  it  from  the  face  of  the  angry  judge. 
A  man -found,  man-made  deity  is  a  demon,  pur¬ 
suing  remorselessly  the  victims  of  its  consuming 
fury. 

The  fatherhood  of  God  is  not  the  outcome  of 
evolution,  a  truth  that  has  slowly  dawned  on  the 
race  in  its  upward  climb.  It  has  been  revealed. 
God  has  told  us  He  is  a  father,  and  this  is  how 
we  know  it.  He  has  told  us  in  His  Word  and 
more  clearly  in  His  Son. 

Christ’ s  message  to  men  is  that  God  is  a  father. 
Christ’s  name  for  God  is  not  “  Judge,”  “Cre¬ 
ator,”  “Ruler,”  but  “Father.”  “I  and  My 
Father  are  one.”  “He  that  hath  seen  Me  hath 
seen  the  Father.”  “The  Father”  was  Christ’s 
ideal.  At  Calvary,  a  nail -pierced  hand  was 
stretched  forth  from  the  cross  to  tear  away  the 
veil  which  human  fear  had  woven  over  the  face 
of  God.  As  we  gaze  upon  the  face  revealed,  the 
Spirit  crieth,  “Abba,  Father.” 

Because  the  fatherhood  of  God  is  not  a  fancy 
sketch  drawn  by  the  religious  imagination,  nor  a 
pen  picture  produced  by  romantic  pious  art,  but 
a  photograph  handed  down  by  God  Himself,  the 
likeness  is  true.  Whatever  else  God  is  or  is  not, 
He  is  a  father.  “  A  father  of  the  fatherless  is  God 
in  His  holy  habitation.”  “Like  as  a  father 


THE  FATHERHOOD  OF  GOD 


185 


pitieth  his  children,  so  the  Lord  pitieth  them  that 
fear  Him.”  u Behold  what  manner  of  love  the 
Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us.  that  we  should  be 
called  the  sons  of  God  !  ”  “I  will  receive  you, 
and  will  be  a  Father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be 
My  sons  and  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty.” 
God  is  a  father  ;  to  discover  that  is  to  be  saved. 

A  burglar  broke  into  an  unoccupied  house  on 
the  seashore,  He  carried  his  plunder  to  the 
dining  room  to  arrange  it,  but  left  it  there.  In 
the  room  was  a  marble  bust  of  Guido’s  Christ,  the 
Christ  wearing  the  crown  of  thorns.  When  the 
rifled  house  was  entered  afterwards,  this  bust 
marked  with  the  burglar’s  black  finger  prints, 
was  found  with  its  face  turned  to  the  wall. 
Evidently  the  thief  could  not  proceed,  with  the 
face  of  even  a  marble  Christ  looking  down  upon 
his  crime.  What  then  must  it  mean,  by  faith,  to 
discover  the  living,  loving  face  of  the  Almighty 
Father  watching  one’s  life?  To  feel  that,  is  to 
find  sin  not  only  hateful  but  impossible.  It  is  to 
have  life  transformed.  It  is  for  the  eternal  in 
man  to  recover  control  of  the  life. 

Since  it  is  a  fact  of  Revelation,  we  must  go  to 
the  same  authority  for  further  information  about 
the  fatherhood  of  God.  One  of  the  first  questions 
asked  is  as  to  the  size  of  God’s  family. 

The  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
Human  Race 

Is  God  the  father  of  all  or  a  part  ?  Is  He  the 
father  of  some  and  the  judge  of  all  the  rest?  How 


186 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


wide  is  the  zone  of  God’s  fatherhood?  Is  it  the 
dogma  of  a  sect  or  the  hope  of  humanity  ?  How 
large  is  God’s  family?  It  is  not  uncommon  to 
limit  the  fatherhood  of  God  to  the  zone  of  the 
elect ;  to  confine  it  within  the  circumference  of 
the  divine  decrees.  Sometimes  the  lines  are  so 
closely  drawn  that  it  is  said  the  size  of  God’s 
family  is  so  definitely  fixed  from  all  eternity  that 
the  number  thereof  can  neither  be  increased  nor 
diminished.  God’s  children  are  those  who  have 
been  foreordained  from  all  eternity  unto  life. 
The  rest  are  left  out  in  the  cold,  or,  to  be 
more  accurate,  are  remanded  to  the  fires  of 
Gehenna. 

So  far  as  God’s  revealed  intention  goes,  His 
family  is  not  limited.  “  God  so  loved  the  world, 
that  He  gave  His  only  begotten  Son,  that  whoso¬ 
ever  believeth  in  Him,  should  not  perish,  but 
have  everlasting  life.”  “It  is  not  the  will  of 
your  Father  which  is  in  heaven,  that  one  of  these 
little  ones  should  perish.”  “Who  will  have  all 
men  to  be  saved,  and  to  come  unto  the  knowledge 
of  the  truth.”  “And  the  spirit  and  the  bride 
say,  Come.  And  let  him  that  heareth,  say, 
Come,  and  let  him  that  is  athirst  come.  And 
whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the  water  of  life 
freely.  ’  ’  These  are  not  terms  of  exclusion  but  of 
inclusion. 

The  entrance  to  God’s  heart  is  not  barred. 
The  door  to  God’s  home  is  not  locked.  There  is 
not  a  syllable  of  Scripture  to  show  that  God  wants 
a  small  family.  God  is  like  the  sun  that  shines 


THE  FATHERHOOD  OF  GOD  187 


for  all.  Does  the  sun  shine  for  one  blade  of  grass 
and  not  for  another  growing  beside  it  ? 

The  zone  of  the  fatherhood  of  God,  in  its 
sympathies,  capacities,  provisions,  invitations, 
and  intentions  is  as  wide  as  the  race.  God  is  for 
all,  for  all  that  have  ever  lived  or  that  will  ever 
live  ;  for  all  races,  kindreds,  tongues,  and  tribes  ; 
for  all  creeds  and  sects ;  for  white  men,  red 
men,  yellow  men,  black  men  j  for  Buddhists, 
Confucianists,  Mohammedans j  for  pagan  and 
heathen ;  for  Jew  and  Gentile  5  for  skeptic  and 
Christian  ;  for  Catholic  and  Protestant ;  for  elect 
and  non-elect.  God  is  for  all  and  the  infinite 
capacity  of  His  love  can  be  neither  stinted  nor 
taxed. 

Nevertheless  when  one  comes  to  lay  God’s  de¬ 
clared  intention  alongside  of  man’s  actual  con¬ 
dition  a  difference  appears  as  deep  as  hell  and  as 
high  as  heaven.  All  men  are  not  God’s  children 
in  their  intentions.  There  are  those  who  repudi¬ 
ate  God  as  a  father,  blaspheme  Him,  deny  Him, 
defy  Him.  They  are  in  open  rebellion  against 
God's  plans.  God  is  not  in  all  their  thoughts. 
To  call  such  people  members  of  God’s  family  is 
to  speak  a  pious  lie.  The  fatherhood  of  God  is 
no  more  to  them  than  the  sterile  sands  along  a 
barren  beach.  Thus  we  come  to  the  second  great 
cpiestion  in  connection  with  the  subject. 

The  Fatherhood  of  God  and  Sin 

A  child  may  throw  himself  out  of  his  father’s 
house  and  cast  away  his  birthright.  That  is  what 


188 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


sin  is.  Bin  is  the  rejection  of  the  fatherhood  of 
God.  It  is  the  act  of  rebellion  by  which  man 
makes  it  impossible  for  God  to  treat  him  as  a 
father  would  a  child.  Sin  does  not  change  God. 
It  changes  man.  Sin  does  not  alter  God’s  at¬ 
titude  to  man  ;  it  alters  man’s  to  God.  Sin  does 
not  take  the  father’s  feeling  out  of  God’s  heart, 
but  it  does  take  the  child’s  feeling  out  of  man’s 
soul. 

Sin  changes  the  sinner.  It  beggars,  brutalizes, 
disfigures,  estranges  him.  It  is  the  old  story  of 
the  prodigal  son,  wandering  from  his  father’s 
house  into  the  far  country.  The  father  and  the 
home  have  not  gone  away  from  the  son  ;  the  son 
has  forsaken  them. 

A  woman  was  sent  from  the  New  York  police 
court  to  Blackwell  Island  to  serve  a  sentence  of 
six  months  for  getting  money  under  false  pre¬ 
tenses  as  a  professional  beggar.  It  was  discovered 
afterwards  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  a  Scotch 
Earl.  Heir  to  a  title  and  of  gentle  blood,  she  was 
living  the  life  of  a  condemned  pauper.  It  is  the 
picture  of  every  sinner  who  repudiates  the  father¬ 
hood  of  God  and  wanders  into  the  u  far  country.” 

Sin  does  not  make  God  turn  against  man.  It 
does  not  transform  God  from  friend  to  foe,  nor 
change  His  love  to  hate.  Whoever  says  it  does, 
blasphemes  God.  Such  a  charge  could  not  be 
lodged  against  our  human  love.  Should  a  child 
of  the  home  become  wayward  and  leave  us,  our 
love  would  not  change  to  hate.  All  tears  cannot 
drown  that  love,  all  neglect  cannot  wither  it,  all 


THE  FATHERHOOD  OF  GOD  189 


abuse  cannot  kill  it.  We  are  not  better  parents 
than  God.  His  love  is  changeless  and  if  the 
prodigal  could  but  believe  this  in  all  its  height 
and  depth  and  stretch  of  holy  meaning,  he  would 
set  his  face  once  more  towards  home. 

If  God  be  such  a  good  father,  why  does  He  not 
prevent  the  estrangement  ?  Why  did  He  allow 
sin  to  enter  and  lead  astray  His  child  ?  It  is  an 
easy  question  to  answer.  Because  God  is  a  father 
and  not  a  policeman  ;  a  father  and  not  a  jailer. 
The  prodigal  son  might  have  been  kept  at  home 
with  bolts  and  chains,  but  home  would  have  be¬ 
come  a  prison.  The  moment  God  ceases  to  be  a 
father  and  becomes  a  prison  official,  His  house 
becomes  a  cell  and  His  child  a  convict.  A  child 
is  not  kept  at  home  by  force,  but  by  love.  Hence 
God’s  children  are  left  free,  and  when  they  sin 
and  leave  Him,  there  is  a  sorrow  in  the  Father’s 
heart  for  which  human  speech  lias  no  words. 

While  He  uses  no  restraining  force,  when  the 
sinner  throws  himself  out  of  his  Father’s  house, 
God  does  not  stand  helpless  in  the  agony  of  grief 
and  in  the  paralysis  of  disappointment.  He 
makes  bare  His  arm  to  destroy  the  enemy  that 
has  broken  up  His  home.  It  is  not  surprising 
that  God  cannot  look  upon  sin  with  u  the  least 
degree  of  allowance.”  Suppose  some  one  should 
enter  a  home  and  steal  away  the  affection  of  a 
child,  and  lead  a  son  or  daughter  into  a  life  of 
folly  and  shame  and  rebellion,  all  the  righteous 
fury  of  parental  love  would  rise  up  against  the 
seducer.  This  is  why  God’s  face  is  relentless 


190 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


against  sin.  Thus  we  come  to  the  third  and  su¬ 
preme  fact  in  the  story  of  God’s  fatherhood. 

The  Fatherhood  of  God  and  Calvary 

The  cross  of  Christ  is  God’s  supreme  effort  to 
reclaim  His  wandering  children  and  bring  home 
the  lost.  Christ  lived,  suffered,  and  died  to  re¬ 
veal  that  God  is  a  father.  His  message  to  men 
might  be  summed  up  in  this,  4 4  God  is  your 
Father.”  Jesus  uttered  the  profound  depths  of 
His  mission  when  He  said,  4  4  He  that  hath  seen 
Me,  hath  seen  the  Father;” — not  the  Creator, 
Ruler,  Judge,  but  the  Father.  Christ  refutes 
guilty  fears,  and  whispers,  44  God  is  love,”  and 
teaches  men  to  pray,  4 4  Our  Father.”  To  accept 
Christ  is  to  find  God  the  Father. 

Thus  it  comes  about  that  so  far  as  the  actual 
experience  of  it  goes,  God’s  fatherhood  is  limited 
to  those  who  come  to  Him  in  Christ.  It  is 
Christ’s  Spirit  that  cries,  44  Abba,  Father.”  And 
so  it  is  true  that  44  whosoever  denieth  the  Son 
hath  not  the  Father.”  4 4  No  man  cometh  unto 
the  Father  but  by  Me.”  But  may  not  one  be¬ 
lieve  in  the  fatherhood  of  God  without  believing 
in  Christ1?  No  more  than  one  can  honour  his 
parents  by  denying  his  brothers  and  sisters. 

Calvary,  therefore,  is  not  a  cold  theological 
necessity,  not  a  shrewd  deal  between  a  clever 
Deity  and  a  suffering  Saviour,  not  a  tragic  effort 
to  restore  the  moral  equilibrium  of  an  unsettled 
universe,  but  the  heart-beat  of  God,  the  home 
call  of  the  Eternal  Father.  At  the  cross  God  is 


THE  FATHERHOOD  OF  GOD  191 


saying  to  His  lost,  wayward,  wandering  child: 

‘  1  Come  home  $  come  back  from  the  wilderness  ; 
come  where  light  and  joy  and  peace  and  love 
await  yon  ;  come  home,”  u  for  I  will  receive  you, 
and  be  a  Father  unto  you,  and  ye  shall  be  My 
sons  and  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty.” 
When  one  comes  thus,  he  comes  to  stay.  He  is 
in  his  Father’s  house  not  by  accident  of  birth, 
but  by  the  election  of  love  and  the  decision  of 
choice.  He  is  there  under  the  spell  of  a  new  hap¬ 
piness,  for  a  new  force  has  entered  into  his  nature. 
He  is  God’ s  child  now  through  the  Spirit.  Sal¬ 
vation  has  become  sonship.  He  is  not  only  God’s 
creature,  but  His  offspring.  He  has  come  home 
to  stay  ;  for  Calvary  was  not  a  skirmish,  but  the 
decisive  battle  of  an  age  campaign.  When  the 
Lord  Almighty  delivers,  deliverance  is  complete. 

The  Fatherhood  of  God  and  the  Re¬ 
deemed  Life 

The  world  has  a  different  look  when  seen 
through  the  windows  of  home,  and  when  gazed 
at  through  the  grated  bars  of  a  prison.  The 
fatherhood  of  God  changes  the  look  on  the  face 
of  every  fact  of  life.  It  is  the  difference  between 
a  sky  of  clouds,  lurid  with  red  lightnings,  sullen 
with  muttering  thunders  and  drenching  storms  ; 
and  the  glorious,  undimmed  sun,  pouring  his  soft 
and  mellow  radiance  down  upon  a  happy  world. 

The  fatherhood  of  God  transfigures  the  decrees. 
Sometimes  they  are  regarded  in  such  fashion  as 
to  fill  the  soul  with  a  doubtful  hope  or  a  growing 


192 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


despair.  GocTs  eternal  decrees  are  just  His  ever¬ 
lasting  plans  and  purposes  for  His  children. 
They  are  not  the  fiat  of  blind  force  nor  the  de¬ 
cision  of  an  arbitrary  judge,  but  the  provision 
of  a  father.  An  earthly  father,  who  is  worthy 
the  name,  looks  out  for  his  children,  not  that  he 
does  not  expect  them  also  to  look  out  for  them¬ 
selves,  but  because  he  wants  to  do  all  in  his 
power  to  make  life  safe  and  happy  for  them. 
Shall  God  the  Father  do  less  for  His  children  ? 
That  is  what  predestination  and  foreordination 
mean.  He  is  not  lifting  obligations  for  us,  but 
He  is  making  the  future  safe.  Peter  writes  of  the 
u  foreknowledge  according  to  the  Father.”  It 
was  because  Paul  was  looking  at  the  decrees  of 
God  from  the  inside,  that  he  could  say,  u  I  am 
persuaded,  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels, 
nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present, 
nor  things  to  come,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor 
any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate  us 
from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord.” 

God’s  decrees  are  not  the  arbitrary  fiats  of 
Deity,  scheduling  a  section  of  His  creation  to 
eternal  punishment.  They  are  the  Father’s  plans 
for  His  own.  Discipline  and  hardship  are  trans¬ 
figured  by  the  same  light.  Sometimes  there  is 
the  fear  that  the  hard  things  of  life  are  signs  of 
Divine  anger.  When  interpreted  by  the  father¬ 
hood  of  God,  they  are  seen  to  be  discipline  rather 
than  punishment.  They  are  the  proofs  of  divine 
concern.  u  For  whom  the  Lord  loveth  He  cor- 


THE  FATHERHOOD  OF  GOD  193 


recteth,  even  as  a  father  the  son  in  whom  he  de- 
lighteth.77 


“  I  know  not  where  God’s  islands  lift, 

Their  fronded  palms  in  air  ; 

But  this  I  know,  I  cannot  drift, 

Beyond  His  love  and  care.” 

When  one  has  discovered  the  fatherhood  of 
God,  it  is  not  long  until  he  finds  the  brotherhood 
of  man.  We  are  not  making  too  much  of  the 
second  of  Christ7  s  commandments — love  to  neigh¬ 
bour  ;  but  we  are  not  making  enough  of  the  first 
— love  to  God.  Christ  did  not  say  love  to  man 
was  the  first  and  great  commandment,  but  love  to 
God.  Love  to  man  is  like  unto  it,  or  a  corollary 
of  it.  Preaching  it  will  never  bring  human 
brotherhood.  Society  needs  more  than  maxims 
and  mottoes.  Let  a  man  discover  that  God  is 
not  only  his  Father,  but  also  the  Father  of  the 
man  who  works  beside  him  ;  the  Father  of  that 
high  man  he  envies  and  of  this  low  man  he 
despises ;  of  that  man  of  prosperity  and  of  this 
man  of  adversity,  of  trembling  old  age  yonder 
and  of  helpless  infancy  here  ;  of  the  waif,  the 
pauper,  the  criminal ;  and  that  God  has  as  much 
of  care  and  love  for  one  of  His  children  as  for  an¬ 
other.  Then  not  from  the  lips  merely,  but  from 
the  heart,  he  begins  to  pray  4  ‘  Our  Father. 7  7 

The  fatherhood  of  God  and  foreordination  ;  the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  human  struggle ;  the 
fatherhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood  of  man  ; 
and  finally  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  eternity  ! 


194 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Out  of  the  mists  of  that  far  future,  fears  as 
well  as  hopes  arise.  Sometimes  conditions  are 
conjectured  which  seem  to  defy  even  the  bliss  of 
heaven  to  make  tolerable.  Suppose  the  family 
circles  of  earth  are  incomplete  there  ?  How  can 
one  be  happy,  unless  all  his  loved  ones  are  happy 
too  ? 

God  is  a  father.  We  can  trust  when  wre  can¬ 
not  understand.  One  should  not  try  to  work  a 
sum  in  calculus  before  he  learns  the  multiplica¬ 
tion  table.  God  has  told  us  some  things,  but 
who  will  say  that  He  has  told  us  all  ?  He  has 
told  all  we  need  now  to  know  of  the  provisions  of 
His  love  ;  but  there  are  things  to  come  which  we 
are  not  ripe  to  receive  as  yet.  I  cannot  under¬ 
stand  how  I  can  be  happy  in  heaven,  if  a  child  of 
mine  should  be  shut  out.  That  is  mystery  enough, 
but  that  mystery  is  lost  in  another.  How  can 
God  the  Father  be  satisfied  and  happy,  if  one 
of  His  children  be  left  out  in  the  everlasting 
night  ? 

And  so,  upon  every  dark  cloud  that  banks 
itself  against  the  sky  of  hope,  there  pours  the 
light  which  streams  from  the  fatherhood  of  God. 

This  light  suffuses  life  and  transfigures  man. 
It  declares  that  in  the  very  nature  of  the  Deity  is 
written  the  high  and  holy  certificate  of  the  kin¬ 
ship  of  the  human  with  the  divine.  It  is  the 
testimony  of  the  heart  of  God  to  the  eternal  in 
man. 


XVII 


AT  THE  GATES  OF  THE  INVISIBLE 

‘‘You  lack  prayer,  you  lack  believing,  persevering  and 
courageous  prayer  ;  and  the  lack  of  prayer  causes  all  that 
drought  and  disunion  from  which  your  soul  is  suffering.  I 
wish  you  therefore,  my  Lord  Bishop,  that  you  will  betake 
yourself  again  to  God,  saying  :  ‘  I  come,  O  my  Lord,  to 
Thee,  bishop  as  I  am,  to  the  children’s  school  of  prayer  ;  1 
come  to  Thee  not  as  a  teacher,  but  as  a  learner,  I  come  to  be 
taught  how  to  pray.’” — Saint  Theresa  io  the  Bishop  of 
Osma. 

Prayer  is  the  eternal  in  man  at  the  gates  of 
the  invisible.  It  is  the  soul  longing  for  some  sign 
or  token  of  its  heavenly  kin .  It  is  the  cry  for  com¬ 
munion  and  fellowship  of  a  nature  whose  home 
country  is  the  realm  of  the  infinite.  If  man  be 
no  more  than  his  tissues  and  senses,  and  his 
destiny  no  further  than  a  grave,  prayer  is  as 
great  a  folly  as  it  is  a  mystery.  The  fact  that 
man  prays  out  towards  the  infinite  proves  that 
there  is  within  a  faculty  or  trait  built  to  move  in 
that  realm. 

The  prayer-life  therefore  becomes  essential  to 
the  soul’s  highest  development.  As  man  waits 
in  the  attitude  of  devotion,  at  the  gates  of  the  in¬ 
visible,  the  eternal  within  him  breathes  its  native 
air,  and  the  spiritual  transforms  and  glorifies  the 
temporal. 

In  his  description  of  the  Transfiguration,  Luke 

195 


198 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


shows  us  Christ  at  prayer.  He  tells  us  that  1  ‘  as 
He  prayed,  the  fashion  of  His  counteuauce  was 
altered,  and  His  raiment  was  white  and  glister¬ 
ing.”  1  A  tide  of  glory  poured  through  the 
silent  portals  of  the  invisible  world  and  flooded 
Him  with  ineffable  light.  His  countenance  was 
changed,  and  His  raiment  transfigured.  Directly 
the  dead  were  holding  converse  with  Him. 

Two  sainted  figures  of  the  spirit  world  stepped 
from  out  the  drapery  of  shadow  and  revealed 
themselves.  Moses  the  lawgiver  and  Elias  the 
prophet  stood  beside  the  radiant  figure  of  the 
praying  Christ.  Peter,  James  and  John  recog¬ 
nized  these  heroes  of  their  race.  The  leaders  of 
the  two  dispensations  touched  in  spiritual  con¬ 
tact.  The  living  and  the  dead  conferred.  Time 
greeted  eternity  and  eternity  glorified  time. 

Such  was  the  Transfiguration  and  the  fact 
which  made  it  such  was  no  trick  of  locality  or 
altitude.  It  was  not  the  longitude  and  latitude 
of  the  place  that  made  the  experience  possible. 
It  was  not  scenery  nor  atmosphere  nor  tempera¬ 
ment  nor  even  personality  that  explains  that 
shekinah.  One  word  explains  it  and  that  word 
is  prayer.  The  Mount  of  Transfiguration  was  an 
ex:n  ph any  of  prayer. 

Prayer  throws  ajar  and  swings  wide  the  gates 
of  the  invisible.  It  summons  the  unseen  and 
gets  responses  from  the  silent  eternities.  As 
man  prays,  glory  pours  forth  the  tide  of  its 
ineffable  light  ux3on  him,  the  law  and  the 

1  Luke  9  :  29. 


GATES  OF  THE  INVISIBLE 


197 


prophets  greet  him,  and  the  forms  and  faces  of 
saints  and  angels  tenant  the  world  about  him. 
As  man  prays  heaven  and  earth  meet  and  greet 
and  the  seeking  soul  is  haloed  with  the  flame  of  a 
celestial  presence,  in  an  apocalypse  of  light  and 
joy,  at  the  gates  of  the  invisible. 

Prayer  has  a  high  and  permanent  value  for  a 
human  life.  No  man  can  get  along  without 
prayer.  He  may  go  at  a  wretched  hobble,  but  if 
he  would  rise  and  run,  if  he  would  have  joy  and 
overcome,  if  life  is  to  be  victorious  and  ecstatic 
he  must  pray.  If  the  eternal  is  to  have  the  right 
of  way,  with  growing  confidence  and  deepening 
reverence,  man  must  tarry  with  the  Son  of  Man 
at  the  invisible  gate. 

Doubt  Discredits  Prayer 

It  is  an  old  fashion  to  be  skeptical  of  the 
efficacy  of  prayer.  It  has  been  attacked  times 
out  of  number,  by  critic’s  bark  and  skeptic’s 
bite. 

It  is  neglected.  It  is  robbed  of  its  life,  beaten 
and  reduced  to  a  bare  and  barren  formality. 
People  say  their  prayers,  but  seek  little.  They 
make  requests  of  God  but  do  not  expect  Him  to 
do  much.  Were  God  to  take  them  at  their  word, 
they  would  be  greatly  surprised,  and  in  some 
cases  dismayed.  They  are  not  looking  for  a 
prompt  response. 

Prayer  is  declared  to  be  unscientific  and  much 
else  that  seems  to  brand  it  as  weak  if  not  bad. 
It  is  said  that  the  world  is  governed  by  law  and 


19S 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


that  things  come  to  pass  by  the  way  of  cause  and 
effect,  and  not  in  answer  to  the  whims  of  some 
individual  who  would  have  the  universe  upset 
for  the  sake  of  his  selfish  interests.  Prayer  is 
pronounced  an  impertinence.  It  is  asking  for 
the  suspension  of  a  universal  law  to  humour  a 
midget  who  hardly  knows  what  he  wants,  often 
asks  to  be  asking,  and  would  be  embarrassed  were 
his  petitions  honoured. 

If  prayer  be  only  this,  it  were  well  to  neglect 
it ;  but  real  prayer  is  other  and  vastly  more.  It 
is  the  shekinah  where  the  soul  meets  its  Maker, 
and  is  transfigured,  as  was  Moses  when  he  waited 
on  Mount  Sinai  at  the  gates  of  the  invisible,  as 
was  Stephen  on  the  threshold  of  martyrdom  at 
the  portal  of  the  land  of  light. 

It  is  acquisition,  enrichment,  reenforcement. 
It  is  the  needy  soul  getting  supplies  of  grace  for 
the  nourishment  and  sustenance  of  the  inner, 
spiritual  life. 

It  is  contact  with  the  dynamos  of  omnipotence. 
It  is  an  exhausted  and  discouraged  life  touching 
the  source  of  power.  It  is  consolation  and  cheer 
and  training  and  growth. 

It  is  the  communion  of  the  finite  with  the  in¬ 
finite.  It  is  not  only  petition  but  confession, 
thanksgiving,  adoration,  intercession,  supplica¬ 
tion,  vision.  It  is  opening  the  soul  to  the  powers 
of  the  world  to  come,  tarrying  for  divine  endue- 
ment,  prostrating  personality  at  the  gate  of  the 
invisible  to  be  suffused  and  transfigured  by  the 
glory  of  the  eternal. 


GATES  OF  THE  INVISIBLE 


199 


Prayer  is  to  the  soul  what  air  is  to  the  lungs. 
The  prayer-life  dwells  on  the  heights  nearest  to 
God. 

The  Conviction  oe  the  Eeality  of  Prayer 

Perhaps  the  greatest  need  is  not  so  much  to  be 
taught  how  as  to  be  convinced  that  it  is  worth 
while  to  pray. 

The  skepticism  based  on  its  scientific  impossi¬ 
bility  is  shallow.  Prayer  is  not  so  much  break¬ 
ing  the  laws  of  nature  as  overcoming  certain 
forces  by  the  introduction  of  a  new  and  higher 
force.  In  this  sense  the  laws  of  nature  are  being 
constantly  broken.  Not  a  bird  flies  nor  a  geyser 
spouts  nor  a  man  walks  without  breaking  into 
certain  laws  of  nature.  If  there  be  a  God,  His 
personality  is  an  infinite  force,  and  for  Him  to 
answer  prayer  is  not  to  imperil  order  with  chaos, 
but  merely  to  introduce  a  new  and  higher  force. 
Indeed  it  would  seem  that  science  is  on  the  side 
of  prayer.  It  furnishes  one  of  the  most  striking 
illustrations  of  prayer  in  wireless  telegraphy 
where  two  men,  one  on  land  and  the  other  it 
may  be  in  mid-ocean,  with  no  medium  but  the 
air  around  them  and  two  instruments  set  in  the 
same  key,  send  and  receive  messages.  Shall  it 
then  be  deemed  an  incredible  thing  for  a  soul  set 
in  the  key  of  the  will  of  God  to  commune  with  its 
Maker,  who  may  be  closer  to  it  than  breathing, 
and  to  send  and  receive  messages  from  the  su¬ 
preme  Intelligence  of  the  Universe 


200 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


It  would  seem  that  the  hard  thing  is  not  to  be' 
iieve  in  prayer  but  to  doubt  it. 

There  are  four  witnesses  for  its  reality.  The 
first  is  the  Bible.  If  prayer  be  impossible,  the 
Bible  is  false.  It  is  committed  to  prayer  in  the 
most  unmistakable  terms.  Every  page  gleams 
with  promises  to  him  who  prays.  The  Bible  is 
the  literature  of  a  people  whose  existence  was  the 
prayer  of  life.  As  well  try  to  protect  gunpowder 
from  explosion  by  throwing  it  into  the  fire  as  to 
save  the  Bible  while  making  a  bonfire  of  its 
teachings  on  prayer. 

The  second  is  Christ.  If  prayer  be  false, 
Christ  is  an  impostor.  He  prayed  Himself, 
taught  His  disciples  to  pray,  told  them  when  and 
how  and  for  what  to  pray,  actually  gave  them  a 
form  of  prayer,  and  in  every  way  possible  com¬ 
mitted  Himself  to  the  efficacy  and  reality  of 
prayer.  If  He  was  mistaken  there,  He  is  fallible 
elsewhere.  One  must  do  one  of  two  things ;  he 
must  either  believe  in  prayer  or  give  up  Christ. 

The  third  is  the  example  of  the  early  church. 
If  prayer  has  no  reality,  the  apostles  were  de¬ 
ceived.  Prayer  was  all  they  had.  Every  step 
was  taken  with  prayer.  The  acts  of  the  apostles 
is  the  story  of  the  prayer-life.  The  early  church 
was  an  oratory.  Apostolic  Christianity  becomes 
an  insoluble  riddle  on  the  theory  that  there  is 
nothing  in  prayer. 

The  fourth  is  Christian  experience.  It  is  a  fact 
that  the  people  who  have  lived  closest  to  God, 
done  most  for  Him,  been  used  most  by  Him,  and 


GATES  OF  THE  INVISIBLE 


201 


have  been  most  like  Him,  have  been  men  and 
women  of  prayer.  To  get  on  the  inside  of  a 
saint’s  life  is  to  discover  a  soul  living  at  the 
gates  of  the  invisible. 

In  view  of  the  testimony  of  these  four  witnesses, 
one  may  well  doubt  the  doubt  that  would  dis¬ 
credit  prayer.  It  is  easier  to  believe  in  prayer 
than  in  geology,  chemistry,  astronomy,  history, 
or  any  of  the  many  things  which  the  senses  re¬ 
quire  us  to  take  on  faith. 

The  Answer  to  Prayer 

If  prayer  be  a  reality,  why  are  the  returns  so 
small  ?  This  is  the  question  which  is  as  old  as 
skepticism.  Are  the  returns  small ?  How  is  a 
man  who  has  no  place  in  his  arithmetic  for  the 
statistics  of  the  invisible,  to  know  ?  Before  one 
can  discover  an  answer  to  prayer,  he  must  give 
up  the  very  grounds  on  which  he  doubts  prayer. 
He  must  recognize  the  invisible  and  supernatural. 

In  forming  an  opinion  of  the  value  of  prayer 
from  its  returns,  certain  things  must  be  borne  in 
mind. 

Some  prayers  are  not  answered  because  they 
are  not  prayers.  They  are  vain  repetitions. 
Others  are  unanswered  because  of  human  impa¬ 
tience.  The  command  is  to  be  importunate  and 
to  pray  without  ceasing.  Many  a  man  fails  to 
stay  on  his  knees  long  enough  to  hear  what  God 
may  have  to  say.  He  breaks  away  with  half  a 
message,  like  the  impatient  trooper  at  the  battle 
of  Waterloo,  and  the  result  is  disaster.  Had  he 


202 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


tarried  longer  defeat  might  have  been  changed  to 
victory. 

Some  fail  to  receive  because  they  ask  for  what 
they  ought  not  to  have.  God  does  not  humour 
man’s  whims.  The  divine  will  is  best  and  must 
be  sought  as  man’s  highest  good.  Indeed  prayer 
is  impossible  until  man  has  learned  from  the 
heart  to  say  to  his  Maker,  “Thy  will  be  done.” 
If  God  be  a  real  God  we  must  trust  Him  to  know 
what  is  best.  For  Him  to  decline  a  request  that 
is  not  for  our  highest  good  is  for  Him  to  answer 
prayer.  He  answers  by  withholding. 

Sometimes  prayer  is  a  request  for  what  God 
has  already  bestowed.  He  is  not  likely  to  do  for 
us  what  He  has  made  us  able  to  do  for  ourselves. 
Prayer  is  not  a  crutch  for  indolence  and  shiftless¬ 
ness.  Faith  without  works  is  dead.  It  is  a  mis¬ 
take  to  use  the  means  and  neglect  to  pray  ;  but 
it  is  as  great  a  mistake  to  pray  and  neglect  to  use 
the  means.  God  will  not  discredit  what  He  lias 
already  done.  If  I  ask  Him  to  do  what  He  has 
made  me  able  to  do,  no  wonder  He  declines.  He 
wTill  not  lift  a  load  I  am  amply  able  to  carry. 

He  will  not  cure  me  with  a  miracle,  when  the 
remedies  are  at  hand.  He  will  help  me  to  think 
clearly,  but  He  will  not  do  my  thinking  for  me. 
Prayer  is  no  subterfuge  for  a  race  of  parasites. 
If  prayer  is  to  be  answered,  man  must  comply 
with  the  conditions. 

He  must  have  the  right  attitude  to  God.  He 
“must  believe  that  He  is  and  that  He  is  the  re¬ 
warder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  Him.”  He 


GATES  OF  THE  INVISIBLE 


203 


must  believe  that  He  is  sovereign  and  that  His 
will  is  best. 

He  must  have  the  right  attitude  to  Christ. 
Prayer  is  to  be  made  in  Christ’s  name.  He  is 
the  only  mediator  between  God  and  man,  and 
the  prayer  falls  short  that  denies  Him  L 1  who  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  us.”  God  cannot 
have  a  very  high  estimate  of  the  prayer  that  dis¬ 
honours  His  Son.  An  appeal  in  Christ’s  name  is 
irresistible  at  the  throne  of  grace.  u  If  ye  shall 
ask  anything  in  My  name,  I  will  do  it.” 

One  must  also  have  the  right  attitude  to  his 
fellow  man.  He  must  love  his  neighbour  as  him¬ 
self.  There  is  not  much  at  the  gates  of  the  in¬ 
visible  for  the  man  who  comes  with  a  heart  full 
of  hatred  towards  his  neighbour.  He  must  for¬ 
give  who  would  be  forgiven.  Let  one  pray  thus, 
and  whether  it  be  in  temple  or  on  the  highway, 
in  forest  close  or  by  the  riverside,  in  the  crowded 
street  or  the  solitude,  in  stumbling  speech  or 
faultless  phrase,  God  will  hear.  The  soul  has 
scaled  the  mountain-top  and  is  at  the  invisible 
portal.  The  glory  light  is  on  him,  and  he  has 
gotten  his  transfiguration. 

Work  would  be  easier,  life  would  be  sweeter, 
people  would  be  kinder,  duty  would  be  haloed 
with  beauty  and  drudgery  made  divine  if  prayer 
were  more  frequent.  There  would  be  more  to 
live  for  and  hope  for.  It  would  be  less  hard  to 
conquer  temptation  and  overcome  the  world. 

During  Rudyard  Kipling’s  desperate  illness  in 
America,  the  trained  nurse  at  his  bedside,  at  the 


204 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


most  critical  stage  of  his  sickness,  noticed  that 
the  author’s  lips  were  moving,  and  bending  over 
him,  thinking  that  he  wanted  to  say  something 
to  her  she  heard  him  pray:  “Now  I  lay  me 
down  to  sleep  ! 77  Realizing  that  he  did  not  need 
her  services,  she  apologized,  saying,  “  I  beg  your 
pardon,  Mr.  Kipling,  I  thought  you  wanted 
something.”  “  I  do,”  he  faintly  answered.  “I 
want  my  heavenly  Father.  He  only  can  care  for 
me  now.” 

Not  only  at  the  end,  but  in  the  midst  of  the 
journey,  when  dulled  and  tired  by  contact  with 
the  world,  we  need  our  heavenly  Father.  We 
need  to  climb  the  altar  stairs,  and  be  suffused 
with  the  transfigurement  of  the  invisible ;  not 
that  we  may  stay  there,  but  like  Christ,  with 
fresh  power  and  new  beauty,  come  down  into  the 
world  of  work  again  to  touch  common  toil  and 
dignify  it,  to  meet  weak  and  worried  people  and 
help  them,  to  consecrate  drudgery  and  sanctify 
the  hard  and  homely  things,  and  to  look  into  the 
faces  of  our  brothers  and  sisters  with  something 
of  the  tender  pity  and  white  hope  of  the  trans¬ 
figured  Christ. 


XVIII 


MAN  HAS  FOREVER 

“I  feel  in  myself  the  future  life.  I  am  rising,  I  know, 
towards  the  sky.  The  sunshine  is  over  my  head.  Heaven 
lights  me  with  the  reflection  of  unknown  worlds.  You  say 
the  soul  is  nothing  but  the  result  of  bodily  powers  ;  why 
then  is  my  soul  the  more  luminous  when  my  bodily  powers 
begin  to  fail  ?  Winter  is  on  my  head  and  eternal  spring  is 
in  my  heart. 

“The  nearer  I  approach  the  end,  the  plainer  I  hear  around 
me  the  immortal  symphonies  of  the  worlds  which  invite  me. 
It  is  marvellous,  yet  simple.  It  is  a  fairy-tale  and  it  is  a 
history.  For  half  a  century  I  have  been  writing  my  thoughts 
in  prose,  verse,  history,  philosophy,  drama,  romance,  tradi¬ 
tion,  satire,  ode,  song — I  have  tried  all.  But  I  feel  that  I 
have  not  said  a  thousandth  part  of  what  is  in  me.  When  I 
go  down  to  the  grave,  I  can  say  like  so  many  others,  ‘  I  have 
finished  my  day’s  work.’  But  I  cannot  say,  ‘  I  have  finished 
my  life.’  My  day’s  work  will  begin  the  next  morning.  The 
tomb  is  not  a  blind  alley.  It  is  a  thoroughfare.  It  closes 
in  the  twilight  to  open  in  the  dawn.  I  improve  every  hour 
because  I  love  this  world  as  my  fatherland.  My  work  is 
only  beginning.  My  work  is  hardly  above  its  foundation. 
I  would  be  glad  to  see  it  mounting  and  mounting  forever. 
The  thirst  for  the  finite  proves  infinity.” — Victor  Hugo. 

Man  is  immortal.  Some  one  lias  called  time 
“a  parenthesis  of  eternity.”  Just  now  man  is 
dwelling  in  the  parenthesis.  He  is  bracketed  on 
one  side  by  birth  and  on  the  other  by  death. 
Some  day  the  brackets  will  be  removed  and  man 

205 


200 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


will  break  out  into  tlie  regions  beyond.  He  will 
invade  eternity. 

“  What’s  time  ?  Leave  now  for  dogs  and  apes  ; 

Man  has  forever.” 

It  is  not  easy  to  prove  this  mathematically,  for 
all  the  tables  of  mathematics  are  finite.  Immor¬ 
tality  is  not  a  mathematical  proposition.  It  is 
not  like  a  sum  in  arithmetic  or  a  theorem  in 
geometry.  One  does  not  prove  immortality,  as 
he  does  the  sum  that  twice  two  is  four  or  the 
proposition  that  the  square  of  the  hypothenuse  of 
a  right  angled  triangle  is  equal  to  the  sum  of  the 
squares  on  the  other  two  sides. 

It  is  true  that  the  Society  for  Psychic  Research 
is  proposing  and  attempting  to  demonstrate  im¬ 
mortality  with  the  tools  of  the  senses ;  but  the 
society  is  making  slow  progress.  About  all  that 
it  has  proven  thus  far  is  that,  if  messages  from 
the  spirits  of  the  departed  be  genuine,  intellect 
undergoes  a  tremendous  shrinkage  after  death. 

It  is  not  safe  to  expect  much  from  any  scheme 
that  proposes  a  mathematical  demonstration  of 
immortality.  It  is  like  hunting  for  light  with 
grocer’s  scales,  or  trying  to  measure  incense  in  a 
spoon. 

Immortality  is  a  moral  proposition.  If  it  is  to 
be  proven,  it  must  be  done  somewhat  as  one 
proves  that  truth  is  right,  duty  imperative, 
virtue  obligatory  and  love  godlike.  The  appeal 
must  be  not  to  flesh  perceptions  but  to  the  eternal 
instincts  in  man.  This  is  not  to  throw  the  sub 


MAN  HAS  FOREVER 


207 


ject  out  of  court  nor  to  leave  in  doubt  the  ques¬ 
tion  of  a  future  existence.  One  may  be  as  well 
assured  of  the  fact  that  man  has  forever  as  of  the 
fact  that  truth  is  reputable  and  justice  right. 

The  Evidence 

The  thought  of  immortality  is  evidence  of  its 
reality.  If  there  be  no  such  thing  as  a  future 
life,  whence  the  thought  of  it,  the  dream  of  it,  the 
longing  for  it  ?  Call  it  a  shadow,  but  whence  the 
shadow  ?  Even  a  shadow  proves  that  somewhere 
there  is  light  and  substance.  The  fact  that  man  is 
capable  of  thinking  it  proves  that  he  is  capable 
of  experiencing  immortality. 

The  soul  craves  immortality  as  naturally  as  the 
lungs  air.  It  longs  for  an  endless  existence  as  the 
heart  longs  for  sympathy.  It  is  ever  battering  at 
its  bracket  walls  and  crying  for  a  larger  world. 
The  universal  desire  of  the  race  is  a  proof  that 
man  has  forever. 

The  immortal  instinct  is  a  reality.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  reason  out  everything.  Some  things 
we  know  instinctively.  Indeed  instinct  is  a 
stronger  conviction  than  reason  and  usually  less 
fallible.  Men  vary  in  their  conceptions  of  the 
future  life.  They  do  not  give  to  the  land  beyond 
death  the  same  name.  They  do  not  furnish 
heaven  alike,  nor  condition  entrance  upon  its 
happiness  with  the  same  terms.  But  all  men,  in 
the  face  of  the  fact  that  it  continues  a  bourne 
from  whence  no  traveller  returns,  feel  that  there 
is  a  country  beyond  death.  The  immortal  in- 


208 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


stinct  is  not  local  nor  provincial,  but  racial  and 
universal.  No  argument  can  destroy  it  and  no 
neglect  efface  it.  It  is  the  deepest  voice  of  the 
soul  proclaiming  that  man  has  forever. 

In  “Sartor  Resartus,  ’  ’  Carlyle  says:  “  To  the 
minnow  every  cranny  and  pebble  and  quality 
and  accident  of  its  little  native  creek  may  have 
become  familiar.  But  does  the  minnow  under¬ 
stand  the  ocean  tides  and  periodic  currents,  the 
trade  winds  and  monsoons  and  moon’s  eclipses, 
by  all  which  the  condition  of  its  little  creek  is 
regulated  and  may  from  time  to  time  (unmirac- 
ulously  enough)  be  quite  overset  and  re¬ 
versed.  Such  a  minnow  is  man,  his  creek  this 
planet  earth,  his  ocean  the  immeasurable  all ;  his 
monsoons  and  periodic  currents  the  mysterious 
course  of  Providence  through  seons  of  seons.” 

There  are  eternal  appetites  and  aspirations. 
There  is  not  only  a  desire  for  immortality,  but 
for  that  which  can  be  realized  only  in  an  im¬ 
mortal  state.  The  eye  is  no  more  built  for  see¬ 
ing  nor  the  ear  for  hearing  than  the  soul  for 
living  eternally.  The  soul  possesses  faculties 
which  find  no  sufficient  explanation  for  their  ex¬ 
istence  unless  man  has  forever.  Faith  and  hope 
range  beyond  the  sky-line.  They  break  out  of 
the  parenthesis  of  time  and  refuse  to  be  tethered 
to  any  century  or  planet.  These  immortal  aspi¬ 
rations  are  themselves  the  evidence  that  some¬ 
where  there  exists  the  reality  for  which  they  cry. 
They  are  as  much  the  proof  of  a  forever  life  as 
the  eye  is  of  light  or  the  ear  of  sound. 


MAN  HAS  FOREVER 


209 


Nature  is  itself  a  prophet  of  the  soul’s  immor¬ 
tality,  not  only  in  the  fact  that  matter  is  in¬ 
destructible,  but  in  its  marvellous  activity  as 
revealed  under  the  microscope.  It  is  said  that  a 
particle  of  radium  so  small  that  it  cannot  be  seen 
save  with  the  most  powerful  microscope  possesses 
the  power  to  blaze  with  energy  and  light  for 
thirty  thousand  years.  If  such  a  future  may  be 
predicted  of  a  microscopic  particle  of  dust,  who 
would  dare  fix  a  short  range  for  the  destiny  of  the 
soul  ? 

“If  God  has  hidden  in  the  tiny  curve  of  an 
almost  invisible  speck  of  radium,”  says  Fitchell 
in  “The  Unrealized  Logic  of  Religion,”  “a 
physical  energy  so  tremendous,  an  energy 
whose  pulses  will  beat  through  tens  of  thousands 
of  years,  what  possibilities  of  sustained  energy 
has  He  not  hidden  in  the  spirit  of  His  child  ! 
Is  He  mightier  in  the  atom  than  in  the  human 
spirit  *? 

1 1  To  one  who  has  seen  that  pulse  of  fiery  par¬ 
ticles  streaming  from  an  invisible  speck,  and 
realizes  that  it  will  maintain  its  energy  through 
whole  ages,  a  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the 
human  soul  gains  a  quite  new  credibility.” 

There  are  immortal  experiences  in  time. 
Thought  is  an  immortal  experience.  It  meas¬ 
ures  the  distance  between  a  soul  and  a  clod.  It  is 
hard  to  believe  that  a  being  who  can  think  be¬ 
yond  the  stars  has  no  higher  destiny  than  the 
dust.  Love  is  immortal.  God  is  love.  It  is  not 
credible  that  a  being  with  a  capacity  big  enough 


210 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


to  experience  a  part  of  the  divine  nature  is  to 
become  extinct  when  the  tabernacle  of  flesh  falls 
away.  Conscience  is  immortal.  Right  and  wrong 
do  not  die.  It  is  not  likely  that  the  being  in  whom 
they  are  passions,  will  be  wiped  out.  Thought, 
love,  conscience  are  prophets  in  the  soul  declaring 
that  man  has  forever. 

There  is  another  witness  whose  testimony  is 
worth  the  considering.  It  is  individuality.  It 
is  that,  in  a  man,  which  cannot  be  stated  in  statis¬ 
tics  nor  put  into  a  definition.  It  is  that  which 
makes  him  what  he  is.  Says  Professor  Merz  in 
“The  History  of  European  Thought!7  :  “If  the 
idea  of  order  underlies  ail  scientific  thought, 
standing  as  it  were  at  the  entrance  of  scientific 
reasoning,  there  is  another  idea  which  stands  at 
the  end  of  all  scientific  thought.  This  is  the  idea 
of  unity,  in  its  most  impressive  form  as  individu¬ 
ality.77 

Individuality  is  a  form  of  unity  out  of  the  range 
of  the  laws  of  disintegration,  decay  and  death. 
Personality  is  the  intangible,  indestructible 
monad. 

It  is  that  in  every  human  being,  which  cannot 
be  weighed  nor  measured  nor  photographed,  and 
yet  which  talks,  trades,  reasons,  hopes,  trusts, 
sins,  plans,  determines,  feels,  loves,  suffers,  re¬ 
joices.  It  is  the  ego.  At  death,  it  moves  into  a 
bigger  world.  It  invades  eternity. 

Thus  far,  nothing  has  been  said  about  the 
teachings  of  Revelation.  Surely  on  such  a  ques¬ 
tion  God  who  made  man  is  entitled  to  be  heard. 


MAN  HAS  FOREVER 


211 


He  is  the  great  witness  of  the  fact  that  man  has 
forever. 

The  teachings  of  Scripture  are  clear  and  un¬ 
mistakable.  Man  was  made  in  God’s  image. 
How  in  God’s  image  if  his  existence  be  a  bubble 
to  be  punctured  by  death  ?  God  was  worshipped 
as  the  God  of  Abraham,  of  Isaac  and  of  Jacob  ; 
and  His  people  declared  He  was  not  the  God  of 
the  dead  but  of  the  living.  The  old  Hebrew 
prophets  all  had  their  faces  towards  the  future. 
They  were  the  apostles  of  a  world  to  come. 

The  teachings  of  Christ  are  worse  than  mean¬ 
ingless  if  this  life  be  all.  He  taught  His  disciples 
to  labour  not  for  the  meat  which  perisheth,  but  to 
lay  up  for  themselves  treasures  in  heaven.  He 
promised  everlasting  life.  He  raised  the  dead 
and  declared  Himself  to  be  the  resurrection  and 
the  life. 

The  Resurrection 

The  resurrection  of  Christ  from  the  dead  is  the 
unanswerable  proof  of  the  reality  of  the  future 
life. 

1 L I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life  ;  he  that 
believeth  in  Me,  though  he  were  dead,  yet  shall 
he  live,  and  whosoever  livetii  and  believeth  in  Me 
shall  never  die.”  1  Jesus  spoke  no  braver, 
brighter  word  than  this  to  weary,  waiting,  toiling 
men.  Into  the  sad  heart  of  a  sorrowing  woman, 
beside  a  bleak  tomb,  where  grief  was  crying  out 
its  woe,  Jesus  first  gave  this  holy  Gospel  of  the 

1  John  11  ;  25,  26. 


212 


THE  ETERNAL  TN  MAN 


resurrection.  But  since  that  wondrous  day  at 
Bethany,  over  many  a  grave,  and  into  many 
troubled  hearts,  the  old  triumphant  words  have 
poured  comfort  and  consolation.  Around  the 
sepulchred  dust  of  the  beloved  dead,  the  angels 
have  sung  the  hope  songs  of  faith,  and  out  of  the 
sere  sod  of  the  silent  grave,  the  fair  Easter  lilies 
have  blossomed.  The  most  triumphant  message 
Christ  has  for  His  people  is  on  Easter  morning. 
Some  go  as  far  as  Bethlehem  and  with  the  magi 
worship  the  babe.  Some  go  as  far  as  Capernaum, 
or  the  sermon  mount,  and  listen  to  the  Teacher. 
Some  go  to  Calvary  and  behold  His  passion  and 
adore  His  cross.  But  there  is  a  farther  goal  and 
a  greater  glory.  It  is  to  go  to  the  empty  tomb 
and  listen  to  the  white-robed  angels  saying  u  He 
is  risen.”  It  is  to  stand  with  Mary  iu  the  Easter 
garden  and  hear  the  risen  Lord  call  His  disciple 
by  name  and  have  the  conquering  Christ  say,  1 1  Go 
tell  My  disciples  that  I  am  risen  from  the  dead 
and  that  I  go  before  them.” 

This  is  the  Easter  message.  It  is  the  gladdest 
note  that  sweeps  the  harp  of  faith.  It  is  the  as¬ 
surance  that  all  the  lofty  aspirations  and  holy 
hopes  of  the  seeking  soul  are  not  in  vain.  It  is 
far  more  than  a  dogma  of  theology  or  a  chapter 
in  Christian  evidences. 

Because  Jesus  rose  from  the  dead,  I  believe  in 
God,  the  Father  Almighty,  and  with  growing 
confidence  pray  1  i  Our  Father.  ’  ’  I  cannot  see  nor 
hear  nor  touch  God.  Does  He  exist  ?  and  if  so, 
how  far  from  my  life  ?  If  Jesus  be  risen  from  the 


MAN  HAS  FOREVER 


213 


dead,  God  is  and  is  not  far  away.  This  return¬ 
ing  risen  Lord,  whose  face  flashes  on  me  out  of 
the  death-shadows,  is  the  way  my  Father  in 
heaven  has  of  saying,  u  My  child,  I  am  near  you. 
Be  not  afraid. 1  ? 

The  risen  Christ  also  tells  of  the  throne  of 
truth  and  the  dominion  of  right.  The  good  is 
stronger  than  the  evil.  There  is  ultimate  anti 
complete  victory  for  all  who  resist  sin,  and  strug¬ 
gle  against  temptation.  The  grave  may  hold  a 
lie,  but  no  grave  was  ever  deep  enough  and  no 
tomb  strong  enough  to  contain  the  truth.  It  may 
be  a  sepulchre  hewn  out  of  the  solid  rock,  sealed 
with  a  great  stone,  and  guarded  by  armed  bat¬ 
talions,  but  if  the  inmate  be  the  true  and  good, 
the  tomb  will  have  to  yield.  The  death  bonds 
will  be  sundered  ;  the  walls  of  the  death-house 
will  be  left  in  ruins.  Truth  has  an  Easter  morn¬ 
ing. 

But  the  regal  message  of  the  risen  Christ  is 
higher  still.  It  is  the  clear,  musical  note  of  the 
eternal  in  man. 

Beyond  the  grave  line  the  risen  Christ  makes 
heaven  secure.  Where  is  Jesus  now?  He  is 
somewhere.  Wherever  He  is,  heaven  is.  Tired, 
weary,  jaded  pilgrim,  this  is  one  of  the  words  the 
great  God  speaks  to  men  at  the  empty  tomb.  He 
tells  of  a  summer  land.  Somewhere  the  flowers 
are  always  blooming  and  the  day  is  never  dark. 
There  is  no  sin,  no  shame,  nor  sorrow,  but  love 
and  light  and  peace  and  joy.  The  winter  has 
passed  and  the  spring  has  come. 


214 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Standing  by  the  mortal  remains  of  a  friend, 
William  Jennings  Bryan,  in  one  of  his  most 
eloquent  moments  said  :  u  If  the  Father  designs 
to  touch  with  divine  power  the  cold  and  pulseless 
heart  of  the  buried  acorn,  and  make  it  to  burst 
forth  from  its  prison  walls,  will  He  leave  neglected 
in  the  earth  the  soul  of  man,  who  was  made  in 
the  image  of  the  Creator  ?  If  He  stoops  to  give  to 
the  rose  bush,  whose  withered  blossoms  float  upon 
the  autumn  breeze,  the  sweet  assurance  of  another 
spring-time,  will  He  withhold  the  words  of  hope 
from  the  sons  of  men  when  the  frosts  of  winter 
come?  If  matter,  mute  and  inanimate,  though 
changed  by  forces  of  nature  into  a  multitude  of 
forms,  can  never  die,  will  the  spirit  of  man  suffer 
annihilation  after  it  has  paid  a  brief  visit,  like 
royal  guests,  to  this  tenement  of  clay  ? 

u  Rather  let  us  believe  that  He  who  in  His  ap¬ 
parent  prodigality  wastes  not  the  raindrop,  the 
blade  of  grass  or  the  evening’s  sighing  zephyr, 
but  makes  them  all  to  carry  out  His  eternal 
plans,  has  given  immortality  to  the  mortal  and 
gathered  to  Himself  the  generous  spirit  of  our 
friend. 7  7 

This  is  the  Easter  message  to  the  soul  of  man  : 

(i  Thou  wilt  not  leave  us  in  the  dust ; 

Thou  madest  man,  he  knows  not  why  ; 

He  thinks  he  was  not  made  to  die  ; 

And  Thou  hast  made  him,  Thou  art  just.”  1 

For  months  the  earth  is  held  in  frost  and  snow. 

1  Alfred  Tennyson. 


MAN  HAS  FOREVER 


215 


Every  leaf  has  fallen  and  every  green  sprig  has 
hidden  its  face  under  the  barren  sod.  Through 
dismantled  trees  the  wintry  winds  have  sighed 
and  moaned  a  requiem  over  the  dead  world. 
But  the  grass  is  springing  again  and  the  flowers 
begin  to  bloom.  Snowdrops  and  crocus  blossoms 
say  “Spring  is  coming.”  The  sap)  is  racing  to 
the  tree-tops  and  the  swelling  buds  will  soon  be  a 
leaf.  It  is  nature’s  Easter  message  of  a  summer 
land.  It  is  the  way  the  seasons  have  of  saying  : 
u  This  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality.” 

“Shall  man  alone,  for  whom  all  else  revives, 

No  resurrection  know  ?  Shall  man  alone, 

Imperial  man  !  be  sown  in  barren  ground, 

Less  privileged  than  grain  on  which  he  feeds  ?  ”  1 

There  are  sublime  celestial  heights  for  the 
risen  soul.  Who  can  speak  them  till  the  peaks 
appear  ?  There  are  rapturous,  celestial  visions 
for  the  risen  soul.  Who  shall  try  to  paint  them 
before  the  soul  beholds  the  sight  ?  There  are 
seraphic  transporting,  celestial  melodies  for  the 
risen  soul.  Who  would  try  to  strike  them  till 
the  harp  is  strung  ?  But  there  is  One  who  gath¬ 
ers  in  Himself  all  highest  heights  and  fairest 
sights  and  sweetest  songs.  At  the  mention  of 
His  name  and  the  touch  of  His  hand  the  risen 
soul  presses  up  and  on  along  the  glory  heights. 
This  matchless  one  is  He,  who  even  now  says  to 
every  straggler  :  i  4  Whosoever  liveth  and  be- 
lieveth  in  Me  shall  never  die.” 


1  Dr.  Edward  Young. 


XIX 


THE  MIST-VEILED  HARBOUR 

‘  ‘  To  die  is  landing  on  some  friendly  shore, 

Where  billows  never  break  nor  tempests  roar, 

Ere  well  we  feel  the  friendly  stroke,  ’tis  o’er.” 

—  William  Garth. 

“  Heaven  will  be  the  sweet  surprise  of  a  perfect  explana¬ 
tion.” — Dr.  Robert  Price. 

Death  is  a  veil  of  mist  between  two  worlds ; 
the  world  of  time  and  sense  and  the  world  of 
eternity  ;  the  world  of  our  toil  and  the  world  of 
our  hope $  the  world  of  faith’s  struggle  and  the 
world  of  faith’s  reward  ;  the  world  that  is  now 
and  the  world  that  is  to  come. 

In  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  the  Christian’s 
hope  is  compared  to  “an  anchor  of  the  soul,  both 
sure  and  steadfast,  and  which  entereth  into  that 
within  the  veil.”  1 

Outside  the  veil  of  mist  which  we  call  “death,” 
is  the  open,  storm-swept  sea  ;  inside,  the  tranquil 
haven  and  the  land  of  rest. 

Life  is  a  voyage  on  the  open,  storm-swept  sea. 
Heaven  is  safe  anchorage  in  the  tranquil  haven. 
Death  is  passing  through  the  veil  of  mist  into  the 
safe  and  quiet  harbour  whose  waters  lave  the 
golden  sands  which  shore  the  land  of  rest. 

1  Heb.  6  :  19. 

216 


THE  MIST -VEILED  HARBOUR  217 


It  is  a  beautiful  and  blessed  truth  that  for  the 
Christian,  the  tranquil  haven  is  no  uncertain 
port.  He  cannot  see  its  piers  and  harbour 
lights,  nor  the  spires  and  domes  of  the  city  beau¬ 
tiful  beyond.  He  is  still  outside,  but  hope’s 
anchor  has  been  cast  within  the  veil.  His  moor¬ 
ings  are  in  the  quiet  harbour,  albeit  his  boat  is 
yet  without  the  veil  upon  the  open  sea.  But  the 
cable  of  divine  promise  holds  and  some  day  he 
will  pull  on  the  cable  and  sail  into  the  mist- 
slirouded  harbour  and  reach  his  long  home. 

Once,  aboard  a  ship  of  the  Merchant  and 
Miners’  Line  from  Norfolk,  Virginia,  we  were 
stopped  outside  Boston  harbour  by  a  dense  fog. 
The  trip  had  been  stormy  and  the  fog  was  so 
dense  that  one  could  not  see  twenty  feet  away. 
For  awhile  we  crept  along  at  a  snail’s  pace,  blow¬ 
ing  the  fog  horn  incessantly  j  but  the  sea  was 
crowded  with  vessels  and  progress  was  dangerous. 

At  last  we  dropped  anchor  and  waited,  sound¬ 
ing  signals  constantly  to  keep  other  boats  from 
running  us  down.  We  could  see  nothing  of  the 
great  city.  Its  wharves  were  hidden  ;  its  build¬ 
ings  obscured  from  sight  by  the  veil  of  mist. 
Thus  we  waited  while  the  hours  went  by.  Then 
the  sun  smote  the  mist  and  the  light  had  the  vic¬ 
tory.  The  fog  cleared,  the  mist  lifted,  the  city 
broke  upon  our  view,  and  directly  we  had  made 
our  landing. 

It  is  something  like  this,  on  a  grander  scale, 
that  takes  place  there  on  the  border  line  that 
skirts  two  worlds.  We  are  voyagers  on  the  sea 


218 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


of  life,  but  a  mist  hangs  between  us  and  our  des 
tination.  We  cannot  see  the  city.  The  voyage 
has  been  stormy.  We  creep  along  at  a  snail’s 
pace  and  take  soundings.  We  stop  and  wait 
and  give  danger  signals.  We  peer  into  the  thick 
darkness,  but  there  is  no  discovery.  Then  comes 
the  magic  hour  when  the  light  is  victorious.  We 
call  it  c  L  death.  ’  ’  To  those  who  remain  in  the 
outer  sea,  the  darkness  tarries  ;  but  to  those  who 
go  in,  all  is  light.  The  mist  lifts,  the  veil  is 
rent,  and  in  the  quiet  haven  of  eternal  rest,  life’s 
long  voyage  ends  and  the  soul’s  endless  heaven 
begins. 

There  is  one  place,  however,  where  the  illus¬ 
tration  fails.  To  those  of  us  who  waited  until 
the  fog  lifted  in  Boston  harbour,  the  city  hidden 
from  view  by  the  veil  of  mist,  was  known.  We 
had  seen  it  before.  It  required  no  faith  to  accept 
reality.  We  had  walked  its  streets  and  mingled 
with  its  people  and  by  previous  experiences  we 
knew  what  was  coming. 

Not  so  with  those  who  wait  outside  the  mist- 
veiled  harbour  of  death.  It  is  an  unknown  city 
beyond  the  fog.  None  of  us  has  ever  walked  its 
streets  nor  talked  with  its  inhabitants. 

It  is  the  city  of  the  invisible  and  intangible. 
The  grave  gives  back  no  voice.  The  land  of  the 
dead  is  sightless  and  silent.  Is  it  any  wonder 
that  man  is  curious  about  the  city  of  the  mist- 
veiled  harbour?  Is  it  real  or  a  mirage?  Is 
death  the  end  or  the  beginning  of  life  ?  Is  the 
thick  veil  a  dead  wall,  or  will  a  door  swing  in 


THE  MIST- VEILED  HARBOUR  219 


the  shadows  to  let  us  through  %  Does  death  end 
all  or  is  there  more  beyond  ?  If  more,  of  what 
kind  1  Does  the  best  or  the  worst  await  man  be¬ 
yond  the  veil  ? 

Such  questions  are  not  idle.  This  present  is 
our  world  to  be  sure.  If  we  fail  here,  we  have 
failed  ;  if  we  succeed,  we  have  succeeded.  Here 
destiny  is  determined.  Nevertheless  man  is  a 
citizen  of  two  worlds,  and  what  he  thinks  about 
the  next,  powerfully  affects  the  present.  His 
view  of  the  port  shapes  the  voyage.  If  death  be 
but  a  burial  at  sea,  why  not  drifts  If  it  is  reach¬ 
ing  land,  let  us  trim  the  sails  and  make  for  the 
desired  haven. 

The  voyager  is  sustained  by  hope.  If  there  be 
a  blessed  and  glorious  destination,  he  can  cheer¬ 
fully  endure  all  that  befalls  him  by  the  way.  He 
may  grow  weary  and  wonder  if  he  can  out  weather 
the  gale  $  his  hand  may  grow  nerveless  and  his 
sight  dim  with  watching  •  the  winds  may  be  con¬ 
trary  and  the  waves  tempestuous,  but  if  his  hope 
is  uan  anchor  of  the  soul  both  sure  and  stedfast, 
entering  into  that  within  the  veil,”  he  will  press 
on  undismayed.  The  fierce  winds  and  biting- 
tempests  and  threatening  billows  cannot  keep 
him  back.  Some  day  he  will  sail  into  the  mist- 
veiled  harbour  and  the  long  voyage  will  end  at 
the  piers  of  the  city  of  light. 

Hence  it  is  good  to  treasure  what  divine  Reve¬ 
lation  declares  about  existence  beyond  the  veil. 
The  Bible  tells  us  some  things.  What  it  says  is 
trustworthy  j  all  else  is  conjecture.  If  the  Bible 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


be  true,  what  has  faith  to  expect  hereafter  ?  When 
the  fog  lifts  and  the  soul  enters  the  mist-veiled 
harbour,  what  will  it  behold  ? 

Beyond  the  Veil 

There  is  a  city.  John  saw  it  in  his  Patinos 
vision  and  writes  about  it.  “  I  saw  the  holy  city, 
New  Jerusalem,  coming  down  from  God  out  of 
heaven.”  1 

It  is  a  city  that  is  promised.  It  is  the  eternal 
city  5  for  it  hath  foundations  and  its  builder  and 
maker  is  God.  If  there  be  any  truth  in  the  Bible, 
there  is  another  country.  Christ  said  to  His  dis¬ 
ciples,  u  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you. 7  7  2 

This  world  is  but  the  vestibule  of  the  world  to 
come.  Heaven  is  as  much  a  reality  as  earth. 

The  Christian’s  death  is  not  burial  in  mid¬ 
ocean,  but  sailing  into  harbour.  It  is  making 
port.  At  times,  death  may  terrify  us.  There  is 
nothing  so  awesome  at  sea  as  the  fog.  Death 
may  seem  to  take  on  frightful  shapes,  but  when 
the  mist  lifts,  death  is  found  to  be  but  a  shadow. 
The  sunshine  of  heaven  pours  into  the  soul  and 
all  fear  departs.  1 1  Yea,  though  I  walk  through 
the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death  I  will  fear  no 
evil,  for  Thou  art  with  me.77  3 

It  is  better  there  than  here.  We  know  but  lit¬ 
tle,  it  is  true,  of  the  occupations  and  experiences 
of  the  disembodied  state.  Perhaps  we  should  not 
comprehend,  if  we  were  told.  But  we  know 
enough  to  be  satisfied  that  it  will  be  better  there. 

^ev.  21  :  12.  3  John  14  :  2.  ■’Ps.  23  :  4. 


THE  MIST-VEILED  HARBOUR  221 


Waul  will  not  be  there.  They  will  hunger  no 
more  and  thirst  no  more.  Famine  will  be  ban¬ 
ished.  Poverty  will  be  cured.  It  is  the  land  of 
plenty,  u  for  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne  shall  feed  them,  and  shall  lead  them 
unto  living  fountains  of  water.”  1  Sorrow  will 
not  be  there.  1  c  God  will  wipe  all  tears  from 
their  eyes.”  2  Sorrow  will  persist  to  the  very 
end  of  the  voyage,  but  as  the  soul  steps  ashore 
God’s  hand  will  brush  away  the  last  trembling 
teardrop  and  there  will  be  no  more  tears  for¬ 
ever. 

i. 

Knowledge  will  be  there.  We  shall  know  as 
we  are  known  in  that  realm  of  perfection.  There 
will  be  no  more  blinding  mystery  and  baffling 
perplexity.  Ko  longer  will  the  cpiestions  man 
asks  mock  and  deride  Him.  The  light  will  be 
clear  and  all  will  be  plain. 

Compensation  will  be  there  for  all  the  hurts  of 
time.  Losses  will  turn  out  to  be  investments, 
and  hardship  and  sacrifice  will  change  to  celestial 
gains  and  triumphs.  The  grain  that  has  seemed 
to  perish  will  flourish  in  the  glory  of  the  harvest, 
and  the  surrender  that  has  given  up  all  for 
Christ’s  sake  will  enter  upon  its  incomparable  in¬ 
heritance. 

Coronation  will  be  there.  1  1  To  him  that  over- 
cometli  will  I  grant  to  sit  with  Me  in  My  throne, 
even  as  I  also  overcame,  and  am  set  down  with 
My  Father  in  His  throne.”3  There  will  be  no 
more  falling  down  before  the  enemy,  no  more 

1  Rev.  7  :  17.  2  Rev.  21  :  4.  3  Rev.  3;  2. 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


sinking  from  exhaustion  in  the  struggles,  never 
again  the  crushing  burden  of  the  heavy  cross ; 
for  the  cross  will  give  way  to  the  throne,  and  the 
eternal  in  man  will  take  the  long  sought  sceptre 
of  dominion. 

It  will  be  resourceful  life  rather  than  celestial 
stagnation. 

The  notion  that  heaven  will  be  a  continuance 
of  the  Puritan  Sabbath,  an  endless  era  of  Psalm 
singing,  an  estate  of  unbroken  indolence,  slanders 
the  city  of  light.  Better  a  wreck  on  the  open 
sea,  than  to  find  oneself  doomed  to  such  a  port 
for  all  eternity. 

Christ’s  gift  is  life,  not  existence,  but  life,  life 
abundant,  eternal  life.  Stagnation  is  an  impossi¬ 
ble  condition  for  life.  The  soul  will  go  on  growr- 
ing,  achieving,  acquiring  larger  capacities  and 
new  powers  forever.  It  will  be  no  fool’s  para¬ 
dise,  no  Eden  of  dependent  parasites,  but  a  realm 
of  congenial  pursuits  and  ennobling  occupations 
where  the  redeemed  toil  with  God  in  building 
the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth. 

It  is  of  this  vocation  of  the  future  life  that 
Kipling  writes  in  u  L’ envoi  ”  : 

“When  Earth’s  last  picture  is  painted,  and  the  tubes  are 
twisted  and  dried  ; 

When  the  oldest  colours  have  faded,  and  the  youngest  critic 
has  died, 

We  shall  rest,  and  faith  we  shall  need  it — lie  down  for  an 
aeon  or  two, 

Till  the  Master  of  All  Good  Workmen,  shall  set  us  to  work 
anew. 


THE  MIST- VEILED  HARBOUR  223 


“And  those  that  were  good  shall  be  happy;  they  shall  sit 
in  a  golden  chair  ; 

They  shall  splash  at  a  ten  league  canvas  with  brushes  of 
comets’  hair  ; 

They  shall  find  real  saints  to  draw  from — Magdalene,  Peter, 
and  Paul ; 

They  shall  work  for  an  age  at  a  sitting  and  never  be  tried 
at  all  ! 

“  And  only  the  Master  shall  praise  us,  and  only  the  Master 
shall  blame, 

And  no  one  shall  work  for  money  and  no  one  shall  work 
for  fame  ; 

But  each  for  the  joy  of  the  working,  and  each,  in  his  sepa¬ 
rate  star, 

Shall  draw  the  Thing  as  he  sees  It  for  the  God  of  Things  as 
They  Are.” 

Perhaps  this  is  as  good  as  human  tongue  and 
pen  can  do  in  describing  man’s  eternal  vocation, 
but  doubtless  it  falls  far  short  of  the  glorious 
reality.  “Eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard, 
neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  the 
things  which  God  has  prepared  for  them  that 
love  Him.”  1 

Time  is  but  a  school  in  which  the  soul  is 
trained  for  its  eternal  vocation.  It  is  the  period 
of  apprenticeship  in  which  we  learn  to  handle  a 
few  tools  and  trace  a  few  patterns. 

Xo  lesson  will  be  lost,  no  preparation  useless. 
The  discipline  and  tutelage  of  time  take  on  new 
meaning  and  value  in  the  light  of  an  eternal 
occupation. 

There  is  an  old  story  which  says  that  when  the 

1 1  Cor.  2  :  9. 


224 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


temple  of  Minerva  was  nearing  completion,  it 
was  determined  to  crown  the  building  with  a 
statue  of  the  goddess.  All  the  sculptors  who  de¬ 
sired  were  allowed  to  compete  for  the  prize  that 
was  offered. 

On  the  day  of  awards,  among  others,  a  world- 
famed  sculptor  unveiled  his  statue.  It  was  a  life- 
size  figure  of  the  goddess  and  so  faultless  that 
the  crowd  of  spectators  burst  into  applause  ;  but 
as  it  was  lifted  to  the  top  of  the  temple  it  dwindled 
and  when  set  in  place,  looked  so  poor  that  it  was 
rejected. 

As  the  examination  proceeded,  a  man  unknown 
to  fame  presented  a  huge,  rude,  uncouth  image 
of  Minerva  ;  but  as  it  was  lifted  to  the  summit  of 
the  great  building,  the  rude  lines  disappeared, 
the  roughness  vanished  $  the  figure  took  on  sym¬ 
metry  and  grace  ;  and  when  at  last  it  was  posed 
in  place,  it  seemed  to  be  the  very  embodiment  of 
the  goddess  herself.  Without  dissent  the  judges 
chose  the  work  of  the  sculptor  who  had  wrought 
with  a  big  perspective. 

Man  is  getting  ready  for  an  eternal  sphere. 
He  is  being  schooled  for  an  infinite  vocation. 
When  he  remembers  this,  the  lessons  of  life  seem 
less  irksome.  Let  a  man  get  the  perspective  of 
eternity  on  his  work  in  time,  and  he  will  see 

“How  all  God’s  ways  are  right, 

And  how,  what  seems  reproof, 

Is  love  most  true.  ’  ’ 

Better  than  all  else,  Christ  will  be  there.  The 


THE  MIST- VEILED  HAEBQUE  225 


redeemed  soul  shall  see  Him  face  to  face  and  be 
satisfied.  We  have  been  following  Christ  by 
faith.  We  have  reverently  carried  His  image  in 
our  hearts.  Sometimes  in  moments  of  intense 
longing  or  the  rapture  of  the  spirit  we  have 
seemed  to  catch  glimpses  of  that  face.  We  have 
said,  “Whom  having  not  seen,  we  love.”  We 
have  sung  : 

“  I  see  Thee  not,  I  hear  Thee  not, 

Yet  art  Thou  oft  with  me  ; 

And  earth  has  ne’er  so  dear  a  spot, 

As  where  I  meet  with  Thee.” 

At  last  the  veil  is  rending.  The  supernal  glory 
of  the  spirit  world  is  breaking  on  our  sight. 
Amid  the  seraphic  disclosures  of  that  ecstatic 
moment,  in  the  central  effulgence  of  that  celes¬ 
tial  light,  we  shall  see  the  King  in  His  glory  and 
recognize  Him  as  our  Lord  and  Eedeemer. 

A  young  Englishman  blinded  at  the  age  of  ten 
by  an  accident,  but  winning,  despite  his  infirm¬ 
ity,  high  honours  at  the  University,  was  about  to 
be  married  to  a  beautiful  girl  whom  he  had  wooed 
and  won  but  never  seen. 

A  short  time  before  his  marriage  he  submitted 
to  a  course  of  treatment,  by  eminent  specialists, 
which  reached  its  climax  on  his  wedding  day. 

The  young  man,  his  eyes  still  shrouded  in 
linen  bandages,  drove  with  his  father  to  the 
church  where  the  ceremouy  was  to  take  place 
and  where  the  doctors  awaited  him  in  the  vestry. 

There  was  a  brilliant  assembly  to  witness  the 


226 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


marriage  of  the  son  of  a  lord  to  the  daughter  of 
an  admiral.  Entering  on  the  arm  of  her  white- 
haired  father,  so  moved  that  she  could  scarcely 
speak,  the  young  girl  drew  near  the  altar  where 
her  lover  surrounded  by  a  strange  group  awaited 
her.  The  oculist  was  cutting  away  the  last  band¬ 
age.  Would  he  at  last  be  able  to  see  her  1 

As  the  eyelids  lifted  he  took  a  step  forward  as 
one  who  was  waking  from  a  dream,  and  then 
with  a  joy  that  had  never  been  his  before  he 
looked  upon  the  face  of  the  woman  he  loved. 

“At  last!”  she  said.  “At  last,”  he  an¬ 
swered,  as  they  bowed  in  the  light,  to  plight  the 
troth  that  makes  of  man  and  woman  husband  and 
wife. 

That  thrilling  scene  is  a  suggestion  of  what 
will  take  place  when  at  last  the  soul  gets  its  vision 
and  sees  the  Saviour  face  to  face. 

It  will  be  something  like  this  to  enter  the  mist- 
veiled  harbour.  Without  in  the  blinding  gloom 
and  darkness,  we  have  learned  to  love  our  Lord. 
We  have  felt  the  pressure  of  His  hand,  the  hal¬ 
lowed  joy  of  His  sanctifying  presence  ;  but  we 
have  never  seen  His  face.  The  hour  is  coming 
when  death  will  cut  the  bandages,  the  veil  will 
fall  away,  and  flesh  will  no  more  fetter  us.  Then 
at  the  altar  throne  we  shall  see  the  rapturous 
sight.  We  shall  awake  in  the  likeness  of  our 
Lord  and  look  full  upon  His  blessed  face.  The 
discovery  will  be  heaven  ! 


XX 


RECOGNITION  BEYOND  THE  VEIL 

“  When  for  me  the  silent  oar 
Parts  the  silent  river 
And  I  stand  upon  the  shore 
Of  the  strange  forever, 

Shall  I  miss  the  loved  and  known  ? 

Shall  I  vainly  seek  mine  own  ?  ” 

— Lucy  Larcom. 

r 

Will  there  be  recognition  in  heaven?  Shall 
we  know  each  other  there  ?  Will  the  mother 
know  her  child,  the  wife  her  husband,  the 
daughter  her  mother,  the  friend  his  loved  one? 
Will  family  circles  broken  here,  be  reunited 
there  ?  Will  feet,  long  estranged,  walk  once  more 
a  common  path,  and  old  comrades,  with  arm 
linked  in  arm,  make  heavenly  fellowship  sweeter 
with  the  memory  of  earthly  ties  ? 

One  of  death’s  saddest  features  is  the  fear  that 
we  part  to  meet  no  more.  Should  we  meet  by 
some  kind  chance  or  happy  fate,  it  is  the  appre¬ 
hension  that  the  meeting  will  have  about  it  none 
of  the  joys  of  earthly  companionship,  for  we  shall 
not  recognize  the  faces  of  old  friends.  It  is  the 
dread  that  the  chasm  between  time  and  eternity 
is  too  deep  and  wide  to  be  bridged  by  memory. 
We  know  not  what  changes  death  may  work. 
What  if  heaven  should  be  a  land  of  strangers? 

227 


228 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


Will  existence  begin  in  the  next  world  as  it 
begins  in  this,  with  a  blank  wall  between  us  and 
the  past,  so  high  memory  cannot  climb  it,  so 
deep  memory  cannot  tunnel  it,  so  thick  memory 
cannot  pierce  it  ?  Will  all  that  has  gone  before 
be  blotted  out  by  the  lap  of  oblivion  ? 

The  old  pagan  doctrine  of  the  transmigration 
of  souls,  has  a  subtle  fascination  for  some  who 
call  themselves  Christians. 

This  dogma  which  holds  that  one  existed  in 
another  form  before  birth,  and  that  in  that  earlier 
stage,  he  may  have  been  a  cat,  or  a  cannibal,  or 
a  cricket  on  the  hearth,  or  a  soldier,  or  a  slum- 
worker,  or  a  seraph,  of  course  looks  forward  to 
no  recognition  beyond  the  grave. 

The  transmigration  of  souls,  however,  is  not  a 
Christian  doctrine,  Christianity  does  not  teach 
that  we  had  an  existence  previous  to  birth.  It 
does  not  suggest  that  one  was  ever  any  one  else, 
or  that  he  will  ever  be  another  than  himself.  It 
says  nothing  about  his  becoming  a  cat  or  a  cricket 
or  a  seraph  after  death.  It  has  a  nobler  message. 
It  declares  the  dust  shall  return  to  the  earth  as  it 
was,  but  the  spirit  shall  return  unto  God  who 
gave  it.  It  does  not  say  that  this  mortal  shall 
put  on  another  form  of  mortality,  but  that  u  this 
mortal  shall  put  on  immortality.” 

Christianity  does  not  teach  that  we  shall  start 
in  the  next  world  as  in  this,  with  a  blank  wall 
between  us  and  the  past,  but  that  we  shall  go  so 
inextricably  bound  to  all  the  past  that  we  can 
never  get  away  from  it.  All  that  we  have  ever 


RECOGNITION  BEYOND  THE  VEIL  229 


said  and  done  and  been  will  go  with  ns.  u  Tlieir 
works  do  follow  them.”  1 

“Then  shall  I  know  even  as  also  I  am 
known.”  2  There  will  be  recognition  in  heaven. 
If  otherwise,  heaven  is  a  port  not  worth  making. 
If  as  one  enters  the  mist- veiled  harbour,  he  is  to 
find  himself  among  strangers,  seeing  no  face  that 
is  familiar  and  hearing  no  voice  he  has  heard 
before  ;  if  he  is  not  to  know  again  those  he  has 
loved  and  lost  awhile,  heaven  becomes  an  eternal 
disappointment. 

How  are  things  to  be  better  there  and  knowl¬ 
edge  clearer  and  life  larger  if  I  cannot  know  those 
I  have  always  known  ?  If  I  am  not  to  know  those 
I  have  known,  how  can  I  know  those  I  have  never 
known  %  It  is  incredible. 

We  shall  know  each  other  there.  The  mother 

will  know  her  child',  the  wife  will  know  her  hus- 

/ 

band,  the  daughter  will  know  her  mother,  the 
friend  will  know  his  loved  one.  Recognition  in 
heaven  is  not  a  visionary  hope,  but  as  well- 
grounded  as  any  other  belief  about  the  future 
life. 


Immortality 

It  is  a  part  of  the  doctrine  of  immortality,  of 
the  belief  that  death  does  not  end  all.  It  is  a 
faith  as  old  and  as  wide  as  the  race  that  some¬ 
thing  in  man  survives  the  touch  of  death.  There 
are  aspirations  which  can  be  satisfied  with  noth¬ 
ing  short  of  immortality.  Whether  people  be 

1  Rev.  14  ;  13.  2 1  Cor.  13  :  12. 


230 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


pagan,  heathen,  or  Christian  they  have  cherished 
the  hope  of  a  hereafter.  They  have  been  one  in 
the  race-faith  of  something  in  the  soul  of  man 
which  defies  the  touch  of  death,  leaps  the  gloomy 
grave,  and  escapes  the  tomb. 

“The  soul,  secured  in  her  existence,  smiles 
At  the  drawn  dagger,  and  defies  its  point. 

The  stars  shall  fade  away,  the  sun  himself 
Grow  dim  with  age,  and  nature  sink  in  years  ; 

But  thou  shalt  flourish  in  immortal  youth, 

Unhurt  amidst  the  war  of  elements, 

The  wreck  of  matter,  and  the  crush  of  worlds.”  1 

Suppose  this  doctrine  of  immortality  be  merely 
the  assurance  that  I  shall  be  some  one  or  some¬ 
thing  else  in  the  world  to  come  !  Is  that  true 
immortality!  Suppose  it  mean  that  nothing 
which  made  my  earthly  life  what  it  was,  shall 
be  recognized  there  ;  no  earthly  experience,  no 
friendly  face,  no  human  tie!  That  is  not  im¬ 
mortality.  My  identity  is  gone.  It  is  not  I  that 
live,  but  another  whose  divorce  from  me  is  ab¬ 
solute. 

The  doctrine  of  immortality  is  not  that  the  soul 
survives  death  as  an  atom  of  matter  survives 
change  nor  as  a  transmitted  force  endures  in  its 
equivalent.  The  atom  of  matter  may  be  dust  in 
the  street  to-day,  a  year  hence  a  part  of  a  blade 
of  grass,  later  in  the  side  of  an  ox,  and  some  day 
a  bit  of  a  man  or  monkey.  This  is  not  what  is 
meant  by  the  soul’s  immortality.  It  is  rather 


1  Addison. 


RECOGNITION  BEYOND  THE  VEIL  231 


that  conscious  being  lives  on  beyond  the  death 
line.  If  so,  we  shall  know  each  other  there. 

Personality 

It  is  a  part  of  the  doctrine  of  personality. 

A  chasm  yawns  between  a  clod  and  a  soul.  It 
is  measured  by  what  we  call  personality.  Per¬ 
sonality  is  not  a  nerve  sensation  nor  a  brain  se¬ 
cretion.  It  is  more  than  the  ability  to  think  or 
feel  or  determine.  It  is  the  definite  coordination 
of  thought,  feeling  and  volition  issuing  in  an 
individual  who  is  conscious  of  himself. 

No  known  power  can  destroy  personality.  No 
force  or  influence  with  which  we  are  familiar  can 
make  one  into  some  one  else.  I  am  what  I  was 
and  what  I  am  I  shall  be.  My  conscious  identity 
maintains  itself  in  the  face  of  all  that  tries  to 
change  me. 

Time  cannot  destroy  personality.  The  years 
go  by  and  we  forget  or  seem  to  forget  some 
things.  The  boy  has  become  an  aged  man,  but 
personality  ties  him  to  his  boyhood  and  some  of 
his  most  vivid  recollections  are  those  of  early 
years.  Time  has  changed  his  body  but  it  has 
not  made  him  another  person. 

A  change  of  surroundings  cannot  destroy  per¬ 
sonality.  One  may  change  his  climate,  his  garb, 
his  flag,  his  friends,  his  language,  but  he  himself 
abides. 

Physical  changes  cannot  destroy  personality. 
Every  few  years  the  human  body  renews  itself. 
The  blood  and  tissues  change,  and  a  body  that  is 


232 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


altogether  another  in  every  physical  constituent, 
comes  to  pass.  If  personality  reside  in  the 
physical,  in  the  tissues  of  the  brain,  in  the  nerve 
centres,  in  the  blood,  why  is  it  that  personality 
does  not  change  with  the  physical  % 

Conversion  is  the  most  tremendous  force  that 
ever  touches  personality.  It  is  the  divine  influ¬ 
encing  the  human  ;  and  yet  even  conversion  does 
not  destroy  personality.  It  powerfully  affects  it ; 
but  conscious  identity  is  maintained.  One  has 
become  a  1 L  new  creature 7  7  not  in  the  sense  that 
he  has  lost  himself  but  in  the  sense  that  he  has 
found  his  God.  Personality  has  been  reenforced 
by  omnipotence  as  the  brook  acquires  the  river  or 
the  wire  the  dynamo. 

Unite  the  doctrines  of  immortality  and  per¬ 
sonality  and  the  result  becomes  an  unanswerable 
argument  for  recognition  in  heaven.  If  I  am  to 
live  forever,  and  nothing  can  destroy  my  iden¬ 
tity  ;  if  everywhere  and  always,  wherever  I  am, 
I  am  myself,  others  will  be  able  to  recognize  me 
and  I  them.  Those  who  have  known  me  will 
know  me  again,  and  those  whom  I  have  known  I 
shall  continue  to  know. 

Rewards  and  Punishments 

Recognition  in  heaven  is  essential  to  the  doc¬ 
trine  of  rewards  and  punishments. 

It  is  a  belief  as  old  as  the  race  that  whatsoever 
a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap.  It  is  as 
true  for  eternity  as  for  time,  for  the  spiritual  as 
for  the  natural.  This  world  and  the  next  are 


RECOGNITION  BEYOND  THE  VEIL  233 


related  in  such  a  way  that  this  determines  the 
next. 

This  world  is  full  of  inequalities,  of  glaring  in¬ 
justices.  Innocence  suffers  and  guilt  escapes. 
Vice  prospers  and  virtue  is  afflicted.  Courts 
miscarry  and  wrong  is  in  authority.  We  believe 
that  hereafter  all  this  will  be  straightened  out, 
and  it  is  this  faith  which  enables  us  to  endure 
present  injustice. 

This  life  is  full  of  mystery.  There  is  much 
that  we  cannot  understand.  We  ask  questions 
into  that  great  silence  which  refuses  to  release  its 
explanations.  We  believe  that  some  time  it  will 
speak,  and  that  then  we  shall  know. 

There  is  discipline  here.  Adverse  winds  blow 
and  the  soul  must  meet  the  storm.  W e  believe 
it  is  only  that  character  may  be  developed.  The 
soul  must  be  fitted  to  move  in  that  higher  sphere. 
It  must  acquire  strength  and  capacity  and  con¬ 
viction.  Therefore  it  is  disciplined.  Its  future 
will  be  determined  by  itself.  The  gospel,  in  its 
entirety,  is  the  divine  method  for  making  the 
human  soul  into  the  likeness  of  Christ. 

To  what  puny  and  ridiculous  dimensions  does 
this  lordly  creed  of  the  race  dwindle,  if  one’s 
identity  is  to  perish  in  the  grave,  and  he  is  to  be 
in  the  next  world  a  being  who  has  no  recollection 
of  this ;  so  changed  that  neither  will  his  old  ac¬ 
quaintances  be  able  to  recognize  him  nor  will  he 
be  able  to  recognize  himself  ? 

Suppose  the  future  does  reward  the  good  and 
punish  the  bad,  what  will  it  mean  to  me  if  I  am 


234: 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


unconscious  of  ever  having  clone  anything  for 
which  to  be  rewarded  or  punished  ?  Suppose 
mysteries  are  explained,  what  will  it  mean  to  me 
if  I  have  no  recollection  of  anything  I  ever  wanted 
explained  ?  Suppose  discipline  does  not  affect 
character,  what  is  it  worth  to  me  if  I  have  lost 
my  identity,  and  become  another  ?  Whatsoever 
a  man  soweth,  not  he,  but  another  reaps.  The 
whole  creed  has  become  a  lie ;  and  the  universe 
the  mockery  of  justice. 

The  Bible 

All  the  light  the  Bible  sheds  on  this  subject 
confirms  the  belief  that  we  shall  know  each  other 
in  the  future  world. 

There  are  at  least  four  distinct  lines  of  Scrip¬ 
ture  teaching  bearing  on  this  subject.  The  first 
is  the  parable  of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus.  It 
is  a  classic  on  conditions  beyond  the  grave. 
Christ  lifts  the  curtain  and  gives  a  prophetic 
vision.  However  one  may  interpret  what  is 
called  the  “fringe”  of  the  parable,  its  essential 
teaching  is  plain  and  one  fact  is  incontrovertible. 
It  is,  that  identity  is  maintained  in  the  other 
world.  Personality  is  immortal.  Recognition  is 
complete.  Dives  is  there  and  he  is  still  Dives. 
He  recoguizes  himself.  Lazarus  is  there,  and  he  is 
still  Lazarus.  He  recognizes  himself.  Dives 
and  Lazarus  recognize  each  other.  They  have 
changed  positions,  but  they  have  not  changed 
personalities.  They  not  only  recognize  each 
other,  but  they  recognize  Abraham  and  Abra- 


RECOGNITION  BEYOND  THE  VEIL  235 


Lain  recognizes  them.  They  all  know  each  other 
and  remember  and  discuss  the  associations  of  the 
earthly  life.  Evidently  Jesus  believed  in  recog¬ 
nition  beyond  the  grave,  or  He  never  could  have 
spoken  this  parable. 

The  second  is  the  transfiguration.  Jesus  took 
Peter,  James  and  John  up  into  a  high  mountain, 
and  was  transfigured  before  them.  Moses  and 
Elias  appeared  and  were  recognized.  Moses  had 
been  dead  some  time,  and  Elias  long  before  had 
been  translated.  Neither,  however,  had  become 
some  one  else.  Moses  was  still  Moses,  and  Elias, 
Elias.  The  vision  Christ  gave  to  that  inner  cir¬ 
cle  of  His  disciples  on  the  mount  of  transfiguration 
was  a  glimpse  of  conditions  higher  up. 

The  third  evidence  conies  from  the  declaration 
that  our  “  names  are  written  in  heaven,”  written 
in  the  “book  of  life.”  A  name  is  the  index  of 
individuality.  It  stands  for  a  person.  Why 
write  my  name  in  heaven,  if  I  am  to  be  some  one 
else  when  I  get  there?  Why  perpetuate  my 
name  if  my  identity  is  to  be  lost,  and  I  am  not  to 
be  recognized  either  by  others  or  by  myself,  when 
my  name  is  called  ?  The  record  demands  recog¬ 
nition.  I  shall  answer  when  my  name  is  called, 
and  not  another.  It  will  be  impossible  to  evade, 
God  will  know  me  ;  all  heaven  will  know  me ; 
my  old  acquaintances  will  know  me,  and  I  shall 
know  myself. 

The  crowning  testimony  is  in  Christ’s  resur¬ 
rection.  Jesus  had  experienced  death  when  He 
appeared  unto  His  disciples.  He  was  not  in  the 


236 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


flesh,  but  in  the  resurrected  body  after  He  came 
forth  from  Joseph’s  tomb ;  but  they  knew  Him. 
Mary  was  slow  to  see  that  it  was  Christ.  At  first 
she  thought  He  was  the  gardener,  but  it  was  be¬ 
cause  her  senses  were  dull,  and  her  heart  slow  to 
grasp  the  glorious  fact  of  a  risen  Lord.  The  two 
on  the  way  to  Emmaus  were  slow  to  recognize 
in  the  stranger  who  walked  and  talked  with  them, 
their  Master,  and  not  until  the  breaking  of  the 
bread,  did  they  see  Jesus  $  but  it  was  because 
their  hearts  were  gross  and  their  minds  slow. 
The  risen  Christ  was  recognizable,  and  many 
times  and  to  many  people,  He  appeared  after  His 
passion.  If  with  their  dull  eyes  of  flesh,  so  slow 
to  see,  they  knew  Christ,  surely  when  the  veil  of 
flesh  has  been  put  aside  and  faith  has  become 
sight  and  every  shadow  has  lifted,  we  shall  know 
even  as  also  we  are  known. 

Recognition  Will  be  Clearer  in 

Heaven 

Not  only  shall  we  know  each  other  in  the  spirit 
world,  but  our  recognition  will  be  more  accurate 
and  complete  than  on  earth.  “Then  shall  I 
know  even  as  also  I  am  known.  ”  The  reference 
is  of  course,  to  the  vision  of  love.  Love  is  the 
theme  of  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  First  Corin¬ 
thians,  and  the  prediction  refers  to  conditions 
which  shall  obtain  in  the  kingdom  of  love.  As 
love  increases  here  or  anywhere,  acquaintance¬ 
ship  increases.  The  more  we  love  people  the  bet¬ 
ter  we  know  them.  Heaven  is  the  realm  of  love. 


RECOGNITION  BEYOND  THE  VEIL  237 


It  is  ruled  by  the  King  of  love.  Hate  cannot  live 
in  heaven.  Heaven  is  the  place  where  recog¬ 
nition  climaxes.  Here  recognition  is  merely  on 
the  surface.  We  get  acquainted,  but  we  rarely 
know  each  other.  People  are  not  always  what 
they  seem.  They  are  encased  in  conventional¬ 
isms  and  veneered  with  artificialities.  It  is  hard 
to  know  the  real  man.  In  heaven  all  disguises 
will  be  stripped  off,  and  we  shall  be  known  as 
well  as  recognized. 

It  will  not  be  possible  to  keep  from  being 
known.  It  will  be  as  easy  for  others  to  know  us 
as  it  is  for  us  to  know  ourselves.  Personality 
will  be  so  transparent  and  self-evident,  that  there 
will  be  no  need  of  introductions.  We  shall  an¬ 
nounce  ourselves.  The  disciples  had  never  seen 
Moses  and  Elias,  but  they  recognized  them  on  the 
Mount  of  Transfiguration.  Christ  did  not  have  to 
announce  the  identity  of  the  celestial  visitors. 
There  was  something  about  them  that  proclaimed 
them. 

In  heaven,  we  shall  not  only  know  those  whom 
we  have  known,  but  we  shall  know  all.  None 
will  be  strangers. 

Our  Fears  and  Hopes 

Amid  the  joy  this  hope  brings,  to  some  there 
comes  a  fear  which  threatens  to  make  eternal 
oblivion  preferable  to  recognition  beyond  the  veil. 
You  are  saying  under  your  breath  :  u  Suppose  I 
should  miss  a  loved  one?”  What  if  a  mother 
should  look  for  a  son  and  not  find  him?  What 


238 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


if  a  wife  should  seek  her  husband  and  discover  he 
is  not  there  What  if  a  daughter  should  ask  for 
her  father  and  be  told  that  he  is  shut  out  1  How 
could  we  be  happy  with  our  loved  ones  gone  ? 

Whether  or  not  our  fears  can  be  explained 
away,  the  teachings  of  Scripture  stand.  Our 
fears  will  not  alter  the  facts.  But  we  shall  be 
happy,  and  we  shall  be  happy  not  because  we  are 
truant  to  those  we  love.  It  is  easy  to  raise  diffi¬ 
culties  about  conditions  in  a  world  we  have  not 
entered.  We  must  wait  for  some  things  to  be 
found  possible.  There  is  one  glorious  fact  how¬ 
ever  that  we  can  bank  against  our  fears.  It  is 
the  love  of  God.  God  loves  our  loved  ones  bet¬ 
ter  than  we.  His  is  a  stronger,  deeper,  tenderer, 
deathless  love ;  and  the  bigger  question  is  not 
how  we  can  be  happy  in  heaven  without  our 
loved  ones,  but  how  can  God  be  happy  with  any 
of  His  loved  ones  shut  out  in  the  eternal  night.  I 
like  that  saying  in  the  Gospels  “  until  he  found 
it.  J  ’  Will  God  ever  quit  the  search  so  long  as  one 
lost  soul  is  a  wanderer  ?  I  am  willing  to  trust  the 
tenderness  and  ingenuity  and  tirelessness  of 
divine  love.  If  after  all,  there  is  to  be  a  disap¬ 
pointment,  it  will  be  consecrated  by  the  thought 
that  God  shares  it. 

There  is,  however,  another  side  to  the  subject. 
If  it  be  true  that  we  shall  know  each  other  there, 
there  will  be  reunions  in  heaven.  What  welcomes 
await !  Loved  ones  gone  before  shall  meet  again. 
The  parting  was  but  for  a  little  while.  The 
mother  shall  have  her  baby  back  in  her  arms. 


RECOGNITION  BEYOND  THE  VEIL  239 


The  dear  ones  we  have  lost  awhile  shall  be  ours 
once  more,  and  there  will  be  no  more  partings. 
We  only  said  u  good-bye  ”  for  a  little  season. 

And  so  with  another:  “I  will  not  pray  for 
my  dead ;  I  will  give  thanks  for  them.  I  will 
bring  a  wreath  to  the  sepulchre — a  wreath  of 
immortelles.  I  will  sing  an  Easter  hymn  in  the 
winter  of  the  year.  I  will  remember  the  de¬ 
parted  among  the  members  of  my  household  ;  I 
will  say  with  the  little  girl  by  the  grave-stone : 
1  We  are  seven.’  I  will  keep  a  place  for  the  old 
chair  in  the  corner  of  my  heart.  I  will  garner 
the  old  songs  in  the  fields  of  memory.  I  will  ob¬ 
serve  the  birthdays  on  the  fly  leaf  of  the  old  Bible 
as  anniversaries,  not  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  liv¬ 
ing.  And  when  within  Thy  house  I  bend  my 
knee,  in  the  moment  allotted  to  silent  prayer,  I 
will  not  say  1  Father,  raise  my  dead,’  but  ‘  Father, 
I  bless  Thy  name  that  my  dead  are  raised 
already.’  ”  1 


“  God  does  not  send  ns  strange  flowers  every  year ; 

When  the  spring  winds  blow  o’er  the  pleasant  places, 
The  same  dear  things  lift  np  the  same  fair  faces, 

The  violet  is  here. 


“  It  all  comes  back — the  odour,  grace  and  hue, 
Each  sweet  relation  of  its  life  repeated  ; 
Nothing  is  lost,  no  looking  for  is  cheated  ; 
It  is  the  thing  we  knew. 


1  George  Matheson. 


240 


THE  ETERNAL  IN  MAN 


“So  after  the  death  winter  it  will  be ; 

God  will  not  put  strange  sights  in  heavenly  places; 

The  old  love  will  look  out  from  the  old  faces ; 

Yeilchen,  I  shall  have  thee.’7  1 

This  is  the  Christian’s  comfort.  Death  is  but  a 
brief  parting.  Christians  never  part  to  meet 
no  more.  Death  lifts  anchor  and  sets  sail  in  the 
night,  but  hope  fills  the  sails  and  the  prow  of  the 
boat  turns  towards  that  shore  where  loved  ones 
await  us,  singing  the  love  songs  of  heaven  and 
the  call  songs  of  home. 

1  John  W.  Chadwick. 


O 

L- 


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